The Longest Night
by HolyOrdersOtaku
Summary: Ruby is unsure of what she has just seen. Torn between believing it to be a hellish nightmare, or a vision of what has yet to pass, her trials in the months to come have only just begun. Rated M for graphic content and some language.
1. Prologue: The Day the World Went Away

Prologue: The Day the World Went Away

Night was about to take control over Vytal as the sun set in the west, but darkness had long since reigned throughout the prior day. Black clouds had covered the sky from dawn until dusk as the battle waged endlessly. It seemed endless, at the very least. Every second, which would go by in the blink of an eye, felt as though it would last for all of eternity. That eternity that would repeat itself every instant was like a moment in hell, and with every chance at salvation came the crushing sound of damnation as the walls of hope slowly crumbled.

The battlefield lay around her, desolate and barren. If one could even still call it a battlefield after the events of the day. There seemed a more suitable word in her mind; graveyard. There wasn't a living soul in sight, or at least none that she could tell were living. Anyone still alive in this mess must have been like her; beaten, broken, and dying. Breathing was difficult due to several shattered ribs, walking wasn't an option due to the massive hole that was bitten into her leg, and there wasn't much left of her left hand that would tell you that is used to be a hand. Her left hand; her _strong_ hand. Even if she survived, she wouldn't be of any real use anymore. So she just lay there, leaning against a boulder.

How did she even get here? Why did this even happen? It felt like just yesterday that she was a student at Beacon, learning how to become a huntress to help people. A laughable concept to her, if she was still capable of laughing. If today was of any indication, there wouldn't be anyone left to help when it was all said and done. Now there would be nothing. No more studying, no more helping, and no more hanging out with friends. _My friends_, she thought weakly. She felt solely responsible for their fates. Guilt made what bones that weren't broken ache with agony. All this torment and hell was because of the abnormal growth rate that sprung up in Grimm right after the black comet appeared. This war was the definition of hell, taking up the better part of the last year; she couldn't even celebrate her birthday six months ago.

Ruby struggled to breath in as she rolled her eyes to look at her right arm. Wrapped around her right bicep was the only thing left of her older sister; an orange scarf. During a previous scouting mission, conditions changed for the worse and team RWBY was ambushed unexpectedly by a horde of Grimm. In their attempt to escape, Ruby's arm was injured. When they found a safe hideaway, Yang removed her scarf and used it as a makeshift bandage to patch her little sister up. "This isn't so bad," she had said with a smile. "It'll heal up in no time. You're a tough cookie, sis. It'll take more than this to put you down." If only the same could be said for her older sister.

Yang was the _strong_ one, the sister that could take anything in stride and ask for second without batting an eye. But the Grimm caught up, and they brought a Deathstalker with them. There was no escaping without all of them becoming a list of casualties. Yang, without explaining her plan to the others, stopped running and forced them to keep going. The other three reluctantly continued on. When they came back with a larger force, there was very little of Yang's body they could recover. She was team RWBY's _first_ casualty.

Weiss was the second to fall. The mission was to recover as much usable dust as possible from an abandoned Schnee mining facility. It was abandoned weeks prior when the Grimm overran it, killing most of the workers. Team RWBY was selected because of Weiss's knowledge of the facility. The dust wasn't salvageable, as they discovered that a large horde of Beowolves had made the mine their den. All was silent for most of the mission until they heard the first howl. Then came a second. A third. A tenth. A twentieth. A hundredth. It seemed to keep growing. As team RWBY ran to evacuate on a Bullhead, they soon realized that the Beowolves would overcome them before they made it. Weiss, like Yang, stayed behind to allow the rest of her team to escape. There were containers of dust all around, and Weiss only needed one clean shot with Myrtenaster. As Ruby and Blake flew away in the Bullhead, the mining facility exploded in a show of fantastical colors and flames; Weiss and every Grimm present were incinerated.

And then there's Blake. The most recent casualty to team RWBY. She didn't die in an act of heroic strength like Yang or Weiss. She didn't give her life to protect those she cared about. She died today, on the battlefield, and she died a needless death. Her concentration was broken for a split second to make sure that Ruby was safe, and in that moment a Nevermore pierced her heart with one of its feathers. Of all of her friend's deaths, she felt the most responsible for Blake's. Had she been taking better care of herself, Blake wouldn't have needed to check on her in the middle of a battle. It seemed fitting to Ruby, however, to hold off on mourning and to focus on the battle at hand. She was the leader of a dead team, and she would do her fallen comrades justice or die trying. As the saying goes, the captain must go down with the ship.

But Ruby now realized that her ship had sunk deep to the bottom of the abyss long ago. Before Weiss, Blake, or Yang died, her ship sank the day they were graduated early to prepare the onslaught of Grimm. The day alliances were formed that made the world of Remnent rejoice in harmony was they day Remnent died. Humans, faunus, huntsmen, huntresses, criminal masterminds, school teachers, soldiers, and commoners were all fighting a losing war. She wished she could believe that they ever stood a chance. She wanted to believe that she could help everyone and save the day. Yet here she was; laying in the mud, surrounded by the bodies of all of her old friends and enemies turned friends. Beaten, broken, and dying.

She heard what sounded like footsteps. She slowly turned her head in the direction of the disturbance, and saw a man wearing a worn, war torn white coat. He used to have a black hat, but he lost it weeks ago during another battle, so his bright red hair waved gently in the wind. His left eye was covered by a cheap eye patch, and his trousers had tears in them, most likely placed there by angry Beowolves. He remaining green eye scanned the battlefield until it fell on Ruby's mangled body. "Red!" he exclaimed. He came rushing over to her. Upon getting closer, Ruby saw that his left sleeve was torn and he had gashes all over his arm. His head was also bleeding, but only slightly, and most of the blood was caked and dried.

Ruby smiled lightly. "Hey, Roman. What's up?" Even in the face of death, she tried to be humorous.

"No time for jokes, Red. How bad are you hurt?"

"Bad," she replied. "I won't be around much longer."

"Now, we can't have you talking like that. I'll get you patched up and then we can..."

"Roman," she interupted, coughing blood in the process. "Look at me. I'm broken. My hand is useless, my ribs are shattered, and my leg's been nicked. Do you see where?" He nodded. "That's an artery. It's small enough for the process to be slow, but still beyond repair at this point. Maybe thirty minutes ago you could have saved me. But it's too late now."

"Well, what do you want me to do? I can't just leave you here!"

She smiled. "You would have before."

"I...I guess you're right. I would have. But not now."

"Then," she continued, closing her eyes slowly. "Keep me company for a while. The Grimm have moved on, after all." She breathed in roughly and coughed another glob of blood.

Roman nodded and sat down next to her. Ruby Rose, now only sixteen, and formerly his enemy, was bleeding to death in front of him. How he pitied her, and wanted to save her, and how he hated himself for once trying to kill her himself. "Part of me is glad that all of this happened," he said. "With the Grimm outnumbering humanity, we had to unite under the same banner of survival. I had to fight to survive, but not just for my own survival, but for the people around me too." He looked around. "I hated the faunus, but here I had to fight side by side with them. I've come to trust many of them, and became friends with just as many. I...I even had to bury a few of them." He sounded sad towards the end of the statement.

Ruby smiled. "You know," she said with a pause. "I used to hate you. You were lower than scum to me. You tried to kill me and my friends. You even admitted to plotting to destroy Beacon. But now? I'm glad we had to work together."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because you once tried to kill me, but now you're sitting beside me as I die, trying to comfort me. It proves that even jerks like you have a sweet side. And if it wasn't for the night that I met you, I wouldn't have made all the friends I did at Beacon."

"So, you do care about me, don't you, Red?" he tried to tease, but she could hear the tears in his voice.

"My...name..." she struggled. "Isn't Red." While her eyes were already closed, her eyelids felt heavier than before. "So...tired." Before Roman could respond, her body went limp. He turned towards her and grabbed her right hand, feeling for her pulse. It was gone.

Roman nodded. "Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry," he paused. "Sleep well, Ruby."

Ruby jolted awake in her bed. She could feel hot tears running down her face. Her immediate reflex was to look at her left hand. It wasn't shredded, torn to bits, or missing; it was whole and strong, just as it should be. Then she felt the pressure of eyes watching her. She turned to see _them_. Her _team_ was staring at her, all sharing looks of concern. Ruby's tears came stronger now as she felt a sense of relief wash over her. "G-girls?" she asked.

"Ruby, are you okay? What's wrong?" Yang asked, her older sister instincts kicking in. Instead of answering, Ruby leapt from her bunk and embraced her sister in a tight, locking hug as she began to sob. Yang returned the hug, but was still concerned for her younger sister. "Sis, what's wrong? Tell me?"

Ruby still didn't respond. She jolted away from her sister and spun until she was looking Weiss in the eyes. "Weiss? Is that really you?"

Weiss nodded. "O-of course, you dunce. Who else would I be?" she answered softly. Ruby once again gave no warning as she hugged Weiss, still sobbing.

Once more, Ruby pulled away and locked eyes with Blake. "B-Blake!" she gasped as she pounced on the cat faunus.

Blake, trying to emulate Yang, returned the hug, hushing Ruby gently. "It's alright, Ruby. We're still here. We're not going anywhere."

"I...I thought...I..." Ruby tried to form her thoughts into words, but she was far too emotional.

"Calm down," Yang said as she gently caressed Ruby's back. "Take deep breaths Ruby and take your time. We'll listen."

She nodded as she inhaled deeply, letting Blake sit her down on Weiss's bed. Slowly she regained most of her composure and the tears slowed, but didn't completely stop. Finally she began to speak. "I...I had a horrible dream."

"We figured as much," Weiss said. "Do you remember it?"

Yang shook her head. "I doubt she remembers it all. Dreams are slippery pricks, after all."

Ruby nodded, but as she stared at the floor in concentration, her eyes went wide. "I...I remember all of it, though. Every little detail is burned into my mind, Yang."

"R-really? How bad was it?"

"It...it's difficult to explain. It was almost like a sequence of memories. We graduated from Beacon early. There was this weird black comet, and Grimm started to spread like wildfire. Humans and faunus finally put aside their differences and they worked together to fight the Grimm off."

"That actually doesn't sound too bad," Yang commented. "I mean, Grimm are pretty bad, but if it made humans and faunus work together in harmony then is it really a bad thing?"

Ruby met Yang's gaze. "Roman Torchwick was _helping_ us fight them off too."

"That _does_ sound bad," Blake added.

"Ruby, your reaction to seeing us...what happened?" Weiss asked, ignoring Blake and Yang.

Ruby began to tear up again. "You...you all died. Yang died protecting the three of us, Weiss died to help me and Blake escape, and Blake..." she paused and turned to face the cat faunus. "I'm so sorry, Blake." Ruby began to cry again.

"Hey, whatever it was didn't actually happen. I'm fine, see?" Blake said, comforting her.

Yang, however, was far too curious. "Ruby, if you don't mind my asking, how did Blake die in your dream?"

"She...she was distracted by me. I must have goofed up or something, because she hesitated to make sure I was okay. And then she was killed by a Nevermore." Ruby took a deep breath to try to calm down. "And finally I died. I bled to death while I was talking to Roman Torchwick. He tried to save me, but it was too late. That's when I woke up."

Yang sat down next to Ruby and hugged her tightly. "Well, sis, I can assure you that none of that will ever happen. We'll be fine, and we won't have to fight a losing war against an army of Grimm. We'll always be by your side." The other two agreed and joined in for a group hug.

In spite of the comfort she was receiving, a part of her was still afraid. You're supposed to forget most dreams, aren't you? _Then why do I remember every little detail as though I actually lived through it all?_ she asked herself silently.

* * *

_Song: The Day the World Went Away-Nine Inch Nail_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

So, this is a turn away from what I usually write...in _every_ possible sense. I don't usually like dark fanfiction, but this idea popped in my head and I can't seem to tell myself "No! You can't do that!" because the part of me that says "Yes! Let's f**king do it!" seems to be super strong. I hate that part sometimes. Well, I can't tell you how long this will be, mainly because I don't know, but I have a pretty good idea of where I want to go with this. I'm writing Chapter 1 right now actually...at least until my buddy Jonesy gets home from work and we play games over Skype. That's alot of fun. So, in case you're wondering whether or not it was just a dream, here's what I have to say: the darkness has only been touched upon. We are going to go deeper into this pit, and I think I forgot to pack a flashlight. It's going to be dark as hell.

Till next time! (Please don't lynch me!)


	2. Chapter 1: Serpentine

Chapter 1: Serpentine

_It was just a dream_, she kept telling herself. _You'll forget about soon_. It didn't help that every little detail of the dream stayed with her all day. It was the middle of the week, so she had to go to class. Before lunch, however, she excused herself from class and took the rest of the day off. She felt she couldn't cope with classes with the dream still vivid and solid in her mind. She continued to tell herself over and over that it wasn't real, but for a dream like that to feel so tangible was unsettling to her.

She changed out of her uniform and into her casual attire before leaving the dorm again. Now she decided to take a stroll around campus, hoping that the spring air would calm her nerves and sooth her mind. But everywhere she looked images of fire, smoke, and blood took control. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, but to no avail. She heard the clock chime at noon; lunch. She decided it would be better to join her friends for lunch, so she made her way to the cafeteria. She grabbed a tray, placed a chicken sandwich and a pile of cookies on it, and found her way to the table that teams RWBY and JNPR usually sat at.

"Hey guys," she greeted, accidentally allowing a monotone voice to escape.

"Hey, sis," Yang replied with a look of worry. "Still don't feel any better?" Ruby shook her head, and Yang sighed. "Is there any way we can help you?"

"I don't know. I think I just need a little more time to put my mind on something else."

Jaune, sitting across from Ruby, shot a confused glance to Pyrrha. She returned the look and shrugged. Jaune turned to face Ruby. "Um, might I ask what's troubling you?"

Ruby looked away from him, not wanted to purposely mention what she saw in her dream. Yang took the hint and answered for her. "She had a really, _really_ bad nightmare last night that she's trying to forget about."

"Oh. How bad?"

"You don't want to know," Weiss chimed in.

"That bad, huh?" He stroked his chin in thought. "Hey, I know! Do some sort of hobby to take your mind off of it. You like working with weapons, right?"

"Y-yeah, I suppose I do," Ruby answered. She took a small nibble out of one of her cookies.

"When was the last time you cleaned Crescent Rose?"

"Yesterday with a polishing cloth, why?"

Jaune laughed. "No, not polished. _Cleaned._ Every little joint, edge, and screw might get a little rusty if you don't disassemble it every so often and give a thorough cleaning and oiling. Am I right?"

Ruby slowly brightened up. "You're right! I haven't done that in months!" She started to rush through her food to run off to do just that, but Yang made her slow down.

"Don't run off just yet, little sis. Enjoy our company for a little while. We won't see you until after classes are finished, after all," she said. Ruby nodded, and began to enjoy her lunch. She had something to look forward to, and while the dream was still on her mind, it wasn't as important now.

A couple of hours later, Ruby was in one of the empty workshops working on Crescent Rose. Only the light above her station was on as she worked flawlessly. All of the parts and pieces are organized neatly on a large table, and little plastic cups with markings like "S-1" and so on were filled with all of the screws and bolts that held the intimidating weapon together. She was almost enjoying herself, but the dream kept coming back to her thoughts.

Suddenly, the lights came on throughout the room, startling Ruby. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't know someone was in here," came a voice that she recognized instantly. She turned to see Professor Ozpin entering the room carrying a wooden box. "Terribly sorry, Ms. Rose. I suppose I should've knocked."

"It's alright, professor. It's my fault for leaving the lights off," she answered. "What are you doing here?"

"A little hobby of mine," he said, holding of the wooden box. He strolled over to the table next to Ruby's and placed the box upon it before opening it to retrieve an old clock. "I collect them. If they don't work, I fix them." He looked over to Ruby's table. "Impressive craftsmanship, if I may be so bold. Not many can build such a monstrous weapon." He retrieved a small screwdriver and started to disassemble the clock.

Ruby blushed a little at the compliment. "Well, it's all uncle Qrow's doing, really. I originally tried using weapons like Yang's, but I just don't have the talent for it." She glanced over at Ozpin's clock. "Why work on that here in the student workshops?"

"Every so often when I come down here there will be a student or two working on their weapons. I like to make conversation when I work. It adds to the ambient atmosphere." He flashed her a smile. "It seems to me that you may be in need of a conversation partner yourself."

"W-what makes you think that?"

"Well," he looked at his watch. "Classes are still in session for another hour and a half, yet here you are _not_ in uniform, and working on your weapon in private. You're not a delinquent, Ms. Rose, so I know for a fact that you aren't skipping class for no good reason. Cleaning your weapon is something you can do in your free time, yet you're doing it now. Something on your mind, Ms. Rose?"

She shook her head quickly. "No, not really." Ozpin raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Well...I guess there is something," she finally admitted, feeling dejected.

"I see. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I...I don't, really. But I can't stop thinking about it. Do you think it'll help if I do talk about it?"

"Hm." He adjusted his glasses. "That depends. People cope with their thoughts differently, Ruby. Some people like to bottle them up and deal with them on their own terms. Some of those people are good at it, too. Others need to divulge their thoughts and feelings to someone else. Be that a friend, a relative...an instructor that they trust." He looked Ruby in the eyes. "It's all based on the kind of person you are. Are you the kind who can keep your thoughts a secret and deal with them on your own, or do you need help?"

"I...I don't know how anyone _can_ help, professor. But I do want help."

He smiled. "If you don't want to talk about now, that's okay. But remember, Ms. Rose, I am always available if you need to talk." He went back to work on hic clock, and Ruby followed his example and started to reassemble Crescent Rose.

Ruby sighed. "I had a dream last night, Professor. A bad one."

"Oh?" he asked, curiosity peaked.

Ruby nodded. "It didn't feel like a dream though. It felt _real_. The world was practically ending. Grimm were everywhere, and people were dying. Enemies were now allies, and everyone was working together in a struggle to survive...but to no avail."

"Do you know why any of it was happening, or was the dream seemingly moving around randomly?"

"There was a comet. It wasn't natural, because it glowed black. Black like the Grimm. My friends died. My classmates died. I died." She turned to Ozpin. "You died too, professor."

"And this dream has disturbed your thoughts all day?" She nodded. "I wish I could tell you not to worry about it, Ruby. But I can't. It was just a dream, of course, but a dream so disturbing has its merits and its meanings, I'm sure. Look at this clock." He held the broken clock for her to see as he tinkered with it. "Clocks are used to keep and measure time. But time is truly immeasurable, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"How long did the dream take place?"

"I don't know what point in my sleep it started."

Ozpin shook his head. "Let me rephrase the question. How long did the dream _feel_ like it was."

"Oh," Ruby answered. "It was over a year, I think. I saw it all from start to finish."

"Yet for all we know you may have been asleep for about six or seven hours. And even then, only in REM sleep do we dream, and that doesn't occur until the end of our sleep cycle. The dream felt like a year, but it occurred in a time frame of roughly thirty minutes or so."

"I don't understand, professor."

"Time, Ruby. Time is everything. The difference in time between the dream world and the real world is vast, and seems utterly impossible if the two worlds were to actually exist simultaniously. But, as I said, you may come to understand the dream eventually. But that will take _time_, Ruby. Don't let the dream prevent you from living in the now, because now doesn't always exist. Now always eventually becomes then. And we can never get that back. Take the time to understand it, but don't waste your time either." He placed the back on the clock once again. "Because everyone has to move forward eventually." The clock began ticking. It was fixed.

Ruby nodded. She finished putting Crescent Rose back together. "Thank you professor. I think that helped a little."

Ozpin nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help, Ms. Rose. Do try to feel better about it though, won't you?"

"I'll try, sir. Thank you." She began to make her way back to her dorm. She continued to think about the dream and all of its darkness, but something stuck out in her head that she didn't think twice about earlier.

_Ruby smiled. "You know," she said with a pause. "I used to hate you. You were lower than scum to me. You tried to kill me and my friends. You even admitted to plotting to destroy Beacon. But now? I'm glad we had to work together."_

_ "... if it wasn't for the night that I met you, I wouldn't have made all the friends I did at Beacon."_

She smiled at the thought. She does hate Roman. He is still lower than scum to her, but she had never thought about what happened the night she met him. Because of that incident, she is now a student at Beacon. She looked at her watch, and an idea came to her. She pulled out her scroll and sent a message to her team.

[I'm going out for a while. I'll be back later. -R]

...

[Be careful, sis. Come back soon. -Y]

Ruby nodded, but she couldn't really make that promise. Her idea was a little reckless, but she felt the need to do it. She had someone she needed to meet. She needed to give him her gratitude.

The only problem was finding him. But that was okay. She had an idea.

Ruby stood in line, waiting to go into the club. She didn't really want to go party or anything, but there was a certain individual who owned the place that she needed to talk to. After each person in front of her was admitted, the bouncer stopped her. "Whoa, little girl. You're a little young to be coming here, don't you think?" he said.

Ruby smiled. "Oh, that's alright. I'm not here for the club. I'm here to see the owner."

"And why would I let you in to see him?"

"You won't. I'll talk to him right here. I don't mind waiting for him."

"And what makes you think I'll go get him just to talk to you?"

Ruby smirked as she unfolded Crescent Rose and slammed it into the ground. "I'm stronger than I look," she teased. The bouncer gulped and called for his boss over a radio. She always wondered what it was like to be Yang, and here she was emulating her big sister to manipulate this bouncer. Part of her felt bad, but she was also having the teensiest amount of fun out of it.

A bearded man came outside and the bouncer pointed at Ruby. "Are you causing trouble, little girl?" he asked.

"Not really," she replied. "I just wanted to ask you something."

He scoffed. "Well, I'm out here, so ask away."

"I need to contact Roman Torchwick," she said calmly. "I understand he was seen here talking to you once before. And your people worked with him as well. I know because I fought them at a dust shop."

He laughed. "Girl, do you have any idea who I am?"

"You're Junior. And you're going to give me Roman's contact information. Phone number, scroll, anything. I need to talk to him."

"And why the hell would I give you that information? He's my client, and that information is confidential."

Ruby sighed. "I could call Yang if you want."

He gave her a confused look. "Who?"

"Oh," Ruby remembered. "You never caught her real name, did you? I suppose you know her better as _Sir_, don't you?" He went pale as a sheet. _Bingo_.

"And how do you know that?"

"Oh, she didn't tell you? I'm her little sister. I could tell her that you're harassing me while I was in town, and I'm sure she'd just _love_ to have a nice, long, and _warm_ chat with you."

Junior was sweating profusely at the thought. "Fine." He pulled out a notepad and scribbled a number down. "That's Roman's number. Don't tell him where you got it, okay?"

"Agreed." She took the paper and walked away skipping. She paused. "One more thing. Do you have any cigars?"

"Why?"

"As a peace offering," she answered. Junior held his hand to the bouncer, who placed a pair of cigars in his hands. Junior tossed them to Ruby, and she caught them without breaking them. _It sucks that I can't tell sis about all this. She'd be furious, but she might be proud too. Oh well_. She made it a few blocks away before dialing the number into her scroll.

After ringing for a few seconds, someone answered the phone. "Roman Torchwick, dashingly handsome thief, how may I help you?"

Ruby stuck her tongue out. "Oh please, don't be so full of yourself."

She heard him chuckle. "Was that too much? I'm sorry, but I think that if I get a call from a number that I don't know then I have the right to answer however I damn well please. Now, who is this?"

"It's Ruby," she answered.

There was a moment of silence. "Are you the girl from the other night? I said I wasn't serious, didn't I?"

Ruby fought the urge to gag. "No. I guess you never caught my real name either, did you?" She groaned. She hated the nickname that he tagged her with. "I'm _Red_."

"Oh...Oh~! Red, is it? Well, that makes this interesting. What's the matter? Still upset that I shot at you again?"

"Sort of," she admitted. "But that's not why I called you. Just for tonight, can the two of us agree to a truce so we can talk?"

Roman laughed. "And just why would we do that?"

"Because there's something I have to say to you in person, and I _don't_ want to fight."

"Oh? And why should I trust you?"

"I'll be at the docks in an hour, and I'll be alone. Is that enough to let you trust me?"

There was another moment of quiet. "I'll think about it. I take that you want me to come alone too?"

"Wouldn't be much of a truce if you didn't."

"Fine." _CLICK_. He hung up. Ruby made her way to the docks, determined to be their first to make sure he didn't plant an ambush. If Roman could be described in a single word, it would be _unfair_.

Ruby leaned against a handrail, staring at the reflection of the moon in the seawater. The ocean's breeze tugged at her cloak gently as she stared in thought. Light footsteps caught her attention, but she didn't turn to see the source. She let the next sound tell her who it was.

_CLICK_; the sound of a gun being cocked. "You really came alone, didn't you, Red?" Roman asked.

She sighed. "Hello, Roman. Nice to see you too."

"Aw, now don't be like that!" he said with a laugh. "You invited me, after all. Not to smart, if you ask me. What makes you think that I won't just kill you and be rid of you for good?"

"Nothing. But I doubt you'd succeed. We'd fight, and we'd both run away. Same as before." She turned to face him. his cane was primed and aimed at her head, but it didn't faze her. "So, can we talk like a pair of decent people or what?"

Roman frowned as he contemplated. "Ah, screw it," he said as he lowered his cane. He placed his back to the handrail and leaned against it. "Why the hell not?"

Ruby nodded. She reached into her pouch and pulled out the two cigars. "Here," she said, offering them to him. "As a sign of trust for today."

Roman smiled and he took them happily. He placed one in his mouth and was about to put the other away, but he stopped. "You know what? No. If this is a sign of trust, then you're smoking one with me." He offered the other one to her.

"What?!" Ruby asked. "I'm fifteen!"

"And I committed my first crime when I was twelve. So what?"

Ruby stared at the cigar. "My sister would kill me."

"Sounds better than me killing you, doesn't it?" He smirked. "Or should I take aim again?"

She sighed. "Fine. I give up." She relented and took the cigar back.

Roman lit both cigars and inhaled deeply. "Hm. I've had better, but this is still pretty good." Ruby inhaled once and immediately went into a coughing fit, and Roman laughed. "The first time always does that to you. You'll get used to it."

"That's awful!"

"Trust me, there's alot worse out there." He turned his gaze to her. "So, what did you want?"

Ruby stared at the cigar as she thought. "I had a dream last night."

"Whoa, I don't like where this is going already. You're a little young for me, Red."

"W-what? No! No, you sicko! It wasn't that kind of dream!" Ruby blushed.

"Alright, alright. Sorry."

She sighed. "In my dream, a black comet flew across the sky, and Grimm started to take over the world. People were dying, and there wasn't anything we could do to stop it. Groups who were once sworn enemies were fighting side by side as allies."

"Damn. That's a pretty dark dream," Roman joked. "You realize I'm not a shrink, right?"

"Shut up. I'm getting to your part." She took a deep breath to recompose herself. "You were fighting with us, Roman. Not against us like now, but _with _us. Everyone I know died in the dream. I even died. And you were there in my final moments. The dream felt real, but I know it wasn't. However, something happened that made me think."

She turned to face Roman. "I realize that I need to thank you."

Roman choked. "For what, exactly? Trying to kill you?"

"No," she shook her head. "The night we met. Do you remember it?"

"I remember your huntress friend showed up and kicked my ass. In a manner of speaking, of course."

"She wasn't my friend. I never met her before then. She's a teacher at Beacon. Because of you commiting a crime, and forcing me to try to stop you, she showed up to help me. Professor Ozpin saw my combat skills, and bumped me up two years and admitted me to Beacon. I met my friends and became the leader of a team because of _you_."

Roman whistled, emphasizing that he was legitimately impressed. "Who'd have thought that my dastardly ways would have helped someone. I must be losing my touch." He met her gaze. "A team leader, eh?"

Ruby nodded. "So, thank you."

"I wouldn't thank me if I were you," he added. "We may be 'buddy buddy' right now, but I'm just humoring you. If I see you tomorrow, or later than that, I'm likely to try to kill you again."

Ruby nodded. "Do you think it's possible for us to be friends?"

"Doubt it. But, then again, anything's possible." He laughed. "I still wouldn't count on it, though."

Ruby handed the cigar back to Roman; she barely smoked from it. "Well, I guess I'll head home. My team is probably worried about me by now." She began to walk away.

"I have one question, Red," Roman said, forcing her to stop. "Your dream...what role did I play in your death?"

Ruby giggled. "Believe it or not, you comforted me. And my name's not Red. It's Ruby."

Roman smiled. "Whatever, Red." He turned and walked in the opposite direction, puffing lightly on the cigar in his mouth.

* * *

_Song: Serpentine-Disturbed_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE  
**

Not as dark as the prologue, but we gotta build up somehow, eh? For the record, I'm _not_ shipping Roman and Ruby. They're going to have a frienemy type relationship. Also, shit's gonna get dark. Really dark. We just got to get there. Don't worry.

Not much else to say, really. Other than I've got a running theme now: I pick a song that fits what I deep the most important part of the chapter, and I listen to it/name the chapter after it. MUSIC! I think the lyrics to Serpentine actually fit _most_ of this story, but the chorus is aimed at Roman.

Till next time!


	3. Chapter 2: Sweet Dreams

Chapter 2: Sweet Dreams

Ruby woke up the next morning feeling absolutely fantastic. The dream no longer bothered her. For one, it didn't come back last night, so it was a one off nightmare from the looks of it. Today was going to be a good day it seemed. She climbed out of her bed and stretched, ready to tackle the day with vigor. "Good morning, team RWBY!" she exclaimed happily.

"Nnng," Yang replied. "Five more minutes." She was the last one to stir. Weiss and Blake were already dressed.

"Nope! We got to go to class, sis!" Yang answered back with an unintelligible mumble.

"Well," Weiss interupted. "I'm glad to see you feeling better today, because you have a lot to make up for yesterday's afternoon classes."

"Right," Ruby replied. "I'm really sorry about yesterday, guys. I hope I didn't make you worry too much."

"Nonsense, you dunce. You have nothing to apologize for, and if we're worried then it's because we're concerned for you. We're just happy that you're back to normal."

Ruby nodded. "Thanks." She gave Weiss a quick hug before breaking away. "Alright, team RWBY, let's get ready for class!"

* * *

Roman Torchwick sat at a desk in an abandoned warehouse. Junior's flunkies and members of the White Fang scurried about, organizing cases of dust, weapons, and Bullhead fuel. With his legs propped up, he leaned back in his chair as he stared thoughtfully at the partially smoked cigar in his hand. He had went on to finish smoking his last night, but the one Ruby had handed back to him was still here.

_"Thank you,"_ she had said. He smiled and even chuckled a little under his breath. It seemed ridiculous that she would thank him for being who he was. His exploits had accidentally helped her, and she felt the need to express her gratitude. "You're still just a child aren't you, Red?"

Sooner or later she'd have to grow up and face the real world. Roman grew up at a much younger age than most. He began thieving to survive when he was just a child himself, and soon after he had enough money and food to live, he realized that it wasn't enough. He wanted more. Always he was after more. For every lien he stole, he wanted five more to go with it. He became so good at stealing that he started taking commissions to steal for others. That's how he had met Cinder. She needed enough dust to start her war, and so she hired Roman. Roman hated it, but he wouldn't let the saying be true; no honor amongst thieves. He may be the lowest of the low, but he took his contracts very seriously, almost as if they were sacred vows. To break a contract was akin to selling one's soul to him.

He still hated working for Cinder. She paid well enough, of course, but she expected him to take part in her war. She almost had him convinced, too. But after last night, he wasn't so sure. In spite of all his threats to kill her, he had no true qualm with Ruby. She just happened to get in the way of his work.

_"Do you think it's possible for us to be friends?"_ she had asked. Why would she ask that? Was it because of her dream? Was it really that traumatic? He chuckled again.

As he sat silently ignoring the work around him, the lights flickered. He glanced up at the flourescent lights above him and watched as the once strong light now danced back and forth between on and off. "What the hell? Hey, what's wrong with the lights?" he asked loudly. No answer. Only now did he notice that the whole warehouse had gone silent. "Hey!" He exclaimed, standing to turn around and glare at the workers. They were staring at one of the skylights. "What the fuck are you idiots doing? We have a schedule to keep! Chop-chop!"

They continued to stare up. Roman growled. "What the hell are you morons staring at?" He walked over and looked up. What he saw made his heart sink. "You're joking," he whispered.

* * *

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang were sitting under a tree in the courtyard, having decided to take their lunch outside for the day. "I'm glad you've put it behind you, Ruby. It's not good to think about nightmares like that," Yang said as she bit into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Well, it's going to be hard for her to forget about it if you keep bringing it up, you idiot!" Weiss yelled.

"No, it's fine, Weiss. I ran into Ozpin yesterday and talked to him about it. I felt better after that, so it's all good," Ruby explained, eating a handful of cookies.

Blake nodded silently, choosing to read her book blissfully. She was finding it harder and harder to read the words due to a shadow making her light disappear. She had night vision, but it still caused a strain on the eyes. She sighed and closed her book to join the conversation, but paused. She thought the shadow was just the tree she was leaning against, but everything around her seemed darker. Her friends were busy talking and appeared to not notice the change. "Girls?" she asked.

"What is it, Blake?" Ruby answered.

"Is it supposed to rain today? It got really dark."

The other three looked around. "Huh. It was supposed to be sunny," Yang said. "Guess weathermen are all liars."

Weiss poked her head out from under the tree. "But there isn't a cloud in the sky. Why is it so dark?"

"Ms. Rose!" They heard Ozpin call to Ruby from across the courtyard. "I believe you and I have something important to discuss."

The four girls stood and ran over to Ozpin. "What's up?" Yang asked.

"See for yourself, Ms. Xiao Long." He gestured to the sky with his chin."

The four girls followed his directed and looked up. Ruby's eyes went wide as she gazed upon an object straight out of her nightmare. "N-no. No! It was just a dream! It was just a dream!" She screamed in terror, tears coming in full force. In sky, moving slow and gentle as a docile cloud, was a comet that radiated with darkness as though it was glowing, casting its shadow on the world below. The howls of Beowolves could be heard from the Emerald Forest.

"Time, Ruby," Ozpin said, breaking her trance. "I do believe time is something we sorely lack."

* * *

An hour had passed. Ozpin ordered all students that en emergency was in effect, and that they were to equip their weapons and remain indoors until further notice. Ruby explained as much of the dream that she could to Ozpin, who sat in his office chair quietly listening.

When she finally finished, Ozpin and the others present, including Glynda Goodwitch, sat in silence as they contemplated what they should do. "Um, sir?" Yang spoke up, breaking the silence. "Has anything like this ever happened before?"

Ozpin shook his head. "Not in recorded history. I suppose there is the odd chance that it may have happened in prehistoric times, but that doesn't help us at the moment. It's more likely to be a rogue comet that just so happens to be passing through our system."

"Why does it _glow_ like that? It's so dark, yet its bright."

"It may be some form of aura," Glynda suggested. "Something that gives Grimm strength."

"And if Ruby's dream is true, then the population will begin spiking soon," Ozpin added. "More Grimm, more powerful than ever...if what you saw is true, Ruby, then we have little hope for survival."

"We can't think like that!" Weiss exclaimed. "What if it can be changed? You ever think about that? Maybe she had that dream to help keep it from happening!"

"There's no preventing a celestial body from passing by, I'm afraid. The comet has come and there's not much we can do but wait for it to pass. From there, I suppose we have to prepare for the incoming wave of Grimm that's sure to follow." He turned to Ruby. "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long." The four girls immediately stood straighter, realizing that they were about to be tasked with a duty. "I, Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon, hereby grant you the title of Huntress, with all the rights and privileges that go with it. If what Ruby saw truly is about to come to pass, then we're going to need to prepare. Glynda, gather the rest of the students in the auditorium."

"Are we to dismiss them, sir?" she asked.

"No. A war has just begun. I'm afraid we're going to have to blood our troops a little early. We're also going to need to call in some old friends."

Ruby's scroll started ringing, breaking everyone's concentration. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Professor!"

"Don't be. Answer it. I'm sure it's important."

"Right," she said as she produced the scroll and hit answer without looking at the number. "Hello?"

"You have my attention, Red. What happens next?" came the voice of Roman Torchwick.

She was shocked, and didn't expect to ever get a call from Roman. "One moment," she said. "Sir, is it alright if we let someone onto Beacon's campus?"

"I don't see why not," he answered. "Why?"

"Because he's one of the most wanted criminals in Vale."

Ozpin smiled. "I see. Tell him to bring his friend with him. I'm sure he'll know who I'm talking about."

Ruby nodded and relayed the message. "Come to Beacon. We'll talk here. And bring you _friend_ with you...whoever that is."

Roman cursed. "You seriously want me to bring _her_ with me?"

"Professor Ozpin said so."

"Fine! I'll bring that crazy bitch with me. But don't blame me if Beacon becomes its namesake in a blaze." _CLICK_. He hung up again.

"Uh, sis? _Who_ was that?" Yang asked.

Ruby sighed. "You'll see soon, I suppose."

"Now, shall we go to the auditorium?" Ozpin asked.

"I've sent a student wide message to everyone present to assemble, sir," Glynda chimed.

"Good. Let's go. Team RWBY, you'll be on stage with me. Since you were promoted first, you have seniority amongst the students."

The six of them made their way to the auditorium, where all of team RWBY's classmates, friends, and upperclassmen were now standing nervously. A microphone stand was already placed on the stage for Ozpin to speak into. He stepped to the microphone and cleared his throat, silencing the crowd. "I, Professor Ozpin, hereby declare Beacon Academy to be in a state of emergency. You all came here to train to be warriors, monster slayers, and heroes. You came here to protect the weak from Grimm, and to keep the balance that humanity has spent hundreds of years trying to perfect. That balance has tilted. The black comet in the sky is no ordinary stellar occurrence. It emanates with an aura that strengthens Grimm, granting them the power to dominate humanity once more. You were being trained to prevent such dominance."

"How come we've never heard of this comet before?" yelled a voice from the crowd.

"It has never happened in recorded history. There are no records of its existence anywhere that we currently know of. This, my students, is a first for the world of Remnant. We have reason to believe that the population of Grimm will rise dramatically in the coming days, and we no longer have to luxury to teach you at a leisurely pace. And so..." he paused, looking into each and every student's eyes. "It is with a heavy heart that I must cancel your training, and graduate you all today. Anyone who wishes to opt out and return home may do so. But if you stay, and you accept this graduation to become a huntsman or huntress, you will no longer be students; you will be soldiers. And the law demands that you obey the orders of your commander during times of crisis; me."

Everyone looked around nervously. Some were unsure of what to do. Many looked scared. Others were cocky, confident that this would be an easy battle and that it would be over in the blink of an eye. "Those who wish to leave may do so now," Ozpin finished.

Several people started to exit the auditorium. Ruby wanted to stop them, to convince them that they should stay and help fight. In the crowd that was leaving she spotted Velvet, the rabbit faunus, and in Ruby's mind she saw Velvet's mangled corpse being chewed on by Beowolves and Boarbatusks. That memory of the dream caused Ruby to hesitate. Maybe Velvet would live if she left. Maybe the ones who went home would survive.

"Hold on!" cried a voice. Ruby saw Jaune forcing his way through the crowd before he climbed onto the stage. "Pardon me," he whispered as he grabbed the microphone. Ozpin smiled and politely stepped back to give Jaune room. "You guys that are leaving; why did you even come Beacon if you aren't going to risk your lives to save people? You think running home and hiding is going to keep you safe?" Everyone that was leaving froze and turned to listen to Jaune. "If the situation is bad enough to warrant early graduation for all of the students in training, then what does that tell you? Huh? It means that they need every huntsman and huntress they can get!"

"Look at me!" Jaune spread his arms. "I know that most of you are better than me. Some of the people trying to leave could stomp me into the dirt without breaking a sweat. But am I running? Am I trying to hide? No! I'm the leader of team JNPR, and I plan on leading my team into battle for the safety of all those I care about. Are you going to let yourselves be beaten by _me_? Jaune the loser? Jaune the failure? Or are you going to stand up and fight?"

_No, Jaune,_ Ruby thought. _Let them leave if they want. They might survive! They might live!_

A lone cheer erupted from the crowd; Cardin Winchester was clapping and praising Jaune. "YEAH!" he screamed. "They're just Grimm! Let's fuck 'em up!" Everyone else joined the cheer, and the ones leaving turned back around and rejoined their respective teams; Velvet stayed as well.

Ozpin placed a hand on Juane's shoulder. "Well said, young man." He turned to the students and spoke into the microphone. "Without further delay; as of this very moment you are no longer students at Beacon Academy. Welcome, fellow Hunters and Huntresses! Your teams shall remain intact, and you will be given dangerous combat missions. Godspeed, and good luck. You are all dismissed for now." A loud cheer erupted from the crowd once more as they dispersed. Ozpin nodded at Jaune and gestured for him to go to his team.

"Come along, team RWBY. We've got some friends to greet soon," he said as he walked off the stage, Glynda and team RWBY trailing behind. They stood at the gate of Beacon, waiting for the guests to arrive.

After twenty minutes of waiting, a lone figure arrived. "I'm here, Red," came Roman's voice.

"Where's your superior?" Ozpin asked.

"She said, and I quote, _why would I walk blindly into such an obvious trap_. Of course, she doesn't know about Red's dream, so that's to be expected."

"Uh, sis, why does Torchwick know about that?" Yang asked, feeling suspicious.

"I...uh...kind of went looking for him last night," Ruby admitted.

Yang's eyes changed red. "Oh, really. And just what did you do to my sister while she was alone, scum bag?" Yang marched up to him and grabbed his coat, activating Ember Celica.

"Oh please. Is she full of bullet holes?" he asked jokingly. "No? Then there's your answer. I was curious to know why she wanted to see me, so I humored her and I listened." He was tempted to say that he talked her into smoking a cigar, but he decided against it. Probably for the better as well. He smirked, though, while Yang let him go. "So, Red, your black comet showed up. Should I be as worried as I am, or can I go home and sleep peacefully tonight?"

The howls of Beowolves came from the distant Emerald Forest. "I believe that may answer your question, Mr. Torchwick."

Roman cursed. "Wonderful."

* * *

_Song: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)-Marilyn Manson_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Imagine a cinematic camera slowly panning up to reveal the comet with "Sweet Dreams" beginning to play at that moment. Sends chills down your spine, doesn't it? Here we go. The descent into darkness has begun! Originally I was going to call this chapter "7 Days to the Wolves" because of the lyric "Where will we be when they come?", but Sweet Dreams seemed more fitting. I still don't know how long this is going to be, but I know what the story I want to tell is. I feel like I can really commit to this story! Fingers crossed!

So, the comet's 's freaked out, and I'm pretty sure Ozpin shit his pants when no one was looking. I know Roman did.

And like zat, ze wvar begins! (Oops, did I just accidentally a war?) Till next time!


	4. Chapter 3: Drag You Down

Chapter 3: Drag You Down

Sun Wu Kong sat peacefully in the forest. He lived wherever he wanted to live, which was usually somewhere outdoors. That's just the way he liked it, and today he fancied a nap in the forest. He took in a deep breath to enjoy the spring air, but paused. He sniffed again. That's an odd smell. It couldn't be what he thought it was, could it? He quieted his own breathing so he could focus his faunus hearing on his surroundings. _Snap. Shuffle. Snarl._ He smiled.

"Yup," he said out loud. "That's a Grimm." He hadn't had a good fight since that Roman Torchwick guy showed up at the shipyard. The man may be lower than scum, but Sun had to admit that he sure as hell could fight. He stood and drew his weapon and turned to face the source of the sound; a pair of Beowolves.

He smiled before whistling to get their attention. "C'mon, puppies. Let's go for a walk!" The Boewolves turned to face him and bared their fangs at him before they charged him at full speed. With very little effort, he swung his staff around and quickly dispatched both of them. "Come on, guys! You should have known better. Sometimes, the trick is to know when to just walk away." He heard the sound of another Beowolf. He looked up and saw...dare he count that many? The pack was large; larger than anything he had ever seen. The two he killed must have been scouts. "Eheheh. Know when to walk away," he repeated. "And know when to _run_!" He ran as fast as he could to the city, hoping to outrun the horde of Beowolves behind him.

* * *

The room was fascinating. Ruby and Jaune hadn't seen anything like it outside of war movies. It was a large conference room with a round table in the middle, and escalating rows of seats on each of the far walls. The only people present were team leaders, professors, and Roman. Ozpin and the professors sat at the table, while the students sat in the seats on the walls; Roman stood near the doorway by himself. "Thank you all for coming to this meeting. I apologize for the suddenness of which I called you all in here. Today is turning out to be quite interesting, wouldn't you say? You woke up this morning as normal students, and after lunch was over you were all graduated."

He sighed before taking a sip from his mug. "It's going to be a long day still yet, I'm afraid. Welcome to the Beacon War Room...this room hasn't been used in many years. Not even for staff meetings." He looked around the room, allowing a sense of nostalgia wash over him.

Glynda cleared her throat. "While I'm sure the students...the hunters would enjoy a history lesson, perhaps we should focus on the subject at hand, Professor?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. My apologies. Team leaders; you have been gathered here at this moment to discuss tactics to be used in the coming days. We don't know exactly when the Grimm will begin their attack, but we know it will happen, and it will happen soon. As much as I wish I could make all of the decisions myself, I'm afraid that is too much for me to handle. I will open the floor to any who wish to speak."

"Um, sir?" a young man asked as he stood. "How do we know that the comet and the Grimm are connected?"

"Good question. Miss Rose, would you care to answer?"

Ruby nodded, and a sudden wave of nervousness came over her. She stood up and tried to keep composed while she recounted the events of her dream.

* * *

Melanie and Militia were doing what two sisters with nothing to do usually do; hanging out. They didn't work for Junior until late in the evening, but they didn't want to be bored while they waited to go to work. They lived in a relatively nice house together on the edge of Vale. Working for Junior paid well, so it allowed them to afford to live in comfort. In spite of the loud, public location where they worked, they actually preferred to be away from others in their spare time. It's not like they work for Junior because they like the loud music or the wild dancing; although, it was fun from time to time.

Like a few months back. Anyone else would have been absolutely livid about being beaten in a fight, but that brawler blonde that beat them was actually a lot of fun. They didn't tell Junior, but they secretly wished that she would come back. After all, most of the time they just throw out the drunken morons who can't keep their eyes above the sisters' chests.

Today, however, to pass the time, the sisters decided that they would go for a walk; maybe do a little shopping. As twins, they did everything together. They locked up the house and began walking in silence as they took in their surroundings.

"Melanie," Militia began. "Why is it so dark?"

Melanie shrugged. "I dunno. Might have something to do with that," she said, pointing at the black comet.

"Well that's interesting," Militia commented. "You'd think they'd announce on the news when something like that would happen. I left the camera in the house."

Melanie stopped. "Did you hear that, Militia?"

"Hear what?"

"Shh," she said. "Listen." The two stopped walking and focused on listening. "I thought I heard footsteps."

A few seconds later, Militia heard them too. "Sounds like someone's running." She turned around and poked her sister's shoulder to get her to look too. They saw a blonde haired boy...scratch that, a blonde haired faunus boy running in their direction.

"You think he's gonna try to rob us?" Melanie asked.

Militia smiled. "I'd like to see him try," she said as she donned her claws.

As the pair readied to fight, they noticed that he showed no signs of slowing down. Before they knew it, he was running past them, yelling, "I'd run if I were you!" as he went.

The sisters looked at each other in confusion before the sound of Beowolves howling reached their ears. In the direction where the faunus came from was the edge of the Emerald Forest, and the two girls could see dozens of red eyes coming into view from beyond the trees; they were getting closer. They looked at each other and nodded, before following the faunus as fast as they could. Anyone who sees that many Beowolves has an excuse to book it.

At the same moment, as he acknowledged that the sisters had taken his hint and followed after him, Sun decided that he could use some help to get rid of the Beowolves. Beacon is just at the top of this hill, after all.

* * *

Ruby finished explaining what she saw in her dreams, leaving the whole room mortified. The silence frightened Ruby; she was afraid that they would all think that she's crazy.

Of all the people to break the silence, it was Cardin. "I'm sorry, but shouldn't that be impossible? Seeing the future in a dream seems a bit farfetched to me."

"It's true," Ozpin agreed. "It shouldn't be possible. But if her dream is in fact just a dream, then there is one major coincidence flying across the sky right now."

"It's not neccesarilly impossible," said Jaune. "She _could_ have been shown a vision of the future somehow, but then you have the possibility that the future she described actually happened, and the instant she died she was sent into a cycle where she repeats the timeframe in question with the chance to change it. Then you've got the possibility that Future Ruby somehow sent the information to Past Ruby in an attempt to alter history for the better. Really, the list of possibilities goes on." Everyone stared at him, genuinely impressed. He cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Sorry, I, uh, read a lot of comic books."

"It doesn't matter how she was given this knowledge, so long as we assume that its true and we act accordingly," Ozpin commented.

"Was this meeting a part of your dream?" asked another team leader.

"Not this one, no. If I remember correctly, the first meeting of team leaders wouldn't have occurred until a few days after the comet appeared. Most likely when the Grimm attacked," she replied.

"Meaning that our knowledge of what is to come has already given us several days' head start. What should we do with the time we've been given?"

Velvet raised her hand. "Sir, I think it would be a good idea to place watchers around the campus. As close as we are to the Emerald Forest, it seems likely that Grimm could start pouring out at any moment. Specifically, I think that the night watch should consist of as many faunus hunters and huntresses as possible."

"That's a good idea," another girl, a ferret faunus, agreed. "Faunus have night vision and superior hearing. We would be better suited to watch at night."

"Very well. We'll organize for certain teams to watch during the day, and at night we'll build a set of unique faunus teams. Velvet, Alegra, you two will be in charge of recruiting as many faunus volunteers as you can to watch at night. Keep in mind, though, that the teams that they come from can't watch in the day. We can't have the night watchers falling asleep on us."

"Yes, sir," the two girls said.

"What about supplies?" Jaune asked. "I'd wager that Beacon only has a limited supply of ammo, dust, spare parts, and food."

Torchwick sighed. "I think I can get that covered. Cinder won't be too pleased, but I have loads of dust and ammo, and plenty of Bullheads to haul all of it."

"You mean the stuff you stole?" Cardin mouthed off.

"Man's gotta make a living."

"I heard that you got your ass kicked by Ruby Rose. How's it feel to be beaten by a girl who's not even old enough to drive?"

Torchwick smiled. "You got a bit of a mouth, don't you punk? I'll remember that when you need one of my Bullheads to save your ass!"

"Enough!" Ozpin yelled, which surprised everyone in the room except for Glynda. "We'll take your offer, Mr. Torchwick. Thank you."

"Here to help," he answered sarcastically.

Ozpin nodded. "Oobleck, I want you to run reconnaissance in the Emerald Forest as soon as this meeting is over."

"Right," the green haired professor answered, sipping from his coffee.

"Port, help organize the day watchers. Make sure none of the faunus are mixed in with them. We need them for the night watch. Also, help them set a perimeter of traps."

"It shall be done," Port said through his mustache.

"Any other suggestions?" the room was silent. "Then you are dismissed. Report back to your teams. Those of you who are going to sign your teams up for day watch come back here in thirty minutes. Stay safe." Before anyone could blink, Oobleck became a green blur as he ran out of the door.

The team leaders left the room, chatting quietly amongst themselves as they made their way back to their respective teams. Ruby had no specific orders, and she knew that Blake would most likely volunteer for the night watch teams which meant that team RWBY wouldn't take day watch. She returned to the shared dorm of team RWBY and explained what was currently decided upon. She told Blake about the night watch and told her that if she wanted to volunteer that she should see Velvet or Alegra. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang decided to help fortify the campus while Blake reported to Velvet.

"Yang?" Ruby asked, gaining her elder sister's attention.

"What is it, sis?" she asked, carrying some lumber.

"My dream...do you think that I can change our fate because I know what's _supposes_ to happen?"

Yang had been hammering away on the fortification she was building, but stopped and donned a serious expression; she was in 'big sister' mode. "Ruby, you saw what _could_ happen, not what's _supposed_ to happen. Nothing is ever written in stone until it's already been done. There is nothing to change, because we're forging our own fate. You're knowledge of the 'what ifs' gives a better advantage than before, but it doesn't change anything; we're going to beat this."

"So...so I won't lose you this time, will I?" Ruby began to cry. "I'll get to keep you in my life?"

Yang felt her own hot tears; she never did like to see Ruby become emotional. "Oh, Ruby," she began as she marched over to her sister and embraced her in a gentle and loving hug. "I'll never leave you."

"I don't want to be alone," she answered.

"You won't be. You've got me, Weiss, and Blake. You've got team JNPR, and you've got Ozpin. Hell, it looks like you even have Roman. I'm sure he's awful company, but he needs all of us as well to survive."

Ruby giggled. "Yeah, he is terrible company."

"Right?"Yang asked in a teasing tone. "He just seems so...so _snarky_."

Ruby snorted as she tried to fight back laughter. "Snarky?"

"It's a word. Look it up." Yang flashed a smile. "Don't you worry about a thing, sis. We'll be fine!"

"Ms. Rose!" came the voice of Professor Ozpin. The two sisters, and Weiss who was off to the side, turned to greet him. "I believe a friend of yours has shown up. He says that he ran away from a large group of Beowolves that were at the edge of the city."

"Are they attacking?" Yang asked.

"No. I've already looked into the matter. They haven't left the Emerald Forest yet. It appears they aren't brave enough to attack the city just yet."

"Give them time," Ruby said darkly. "They'll leave it eventually."

"What 'friend' was it this time?" Weiss asked.

A blonde faunus with two black haired beauties behind him approached. "Yo!" greeted Sun. "It's been a while!"

Yang saw the two girls and immediately deployed Ember Celica. "_You!_" she cried.

"Oh look, Militia; it's that blonde girl," Melanie pointed out.

"So it is, sis. A shame we can't spare the time to fight her. She was so much fun," Militia added.

"Uh..._fun_?" Yang asked, confused. "Aren't you guys pissed that I beat you to a pulp last time we met?"

"Not at all," the sisters said in sync. Melanie smiled as she added. "You actually made working for Junior interesting for once. For that we should thank you."

"Oh. Um, okay. You're welcome, I guess."

"If greetings are out of the way, then I suggest that we return to our business," Ozpin interupted. They all agreed and returned to work. Sun and the Malachite twins were allowed to rest up a bit, but before long they too had volunteered to help fortify and watch for Grimm.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

_[Song: Drag You Down-Finger Eleven]_

So, this one was a bitch to write. I've had trouble writing before, but this was just annoying.

Hell, I almost hated it. Well, not erally. I can never "hate" writing, unless I'm writing something I don't want to write. I did want this.

Eh, it's mostly filler though. I hate filler.

But what are you gonna do? It's gotta be done. Filler is a neccesary evil sometimes.

Under normal circumstances I'd have taken ages to finish. This is because I know where I'm going to take the story.

Really, though, I just really wanted to get this out there. I know where I want to go, but first I got to get us there.

Now that it's out, I can begin the next chapter! FINALLY!

Seriously, please don't lynch me yet. We're getting darker.

! TILL NEXT TIME !


	5. Chapter 4: Seven Days to the Wolves

Chapter 4: Seven Days to the Wolves

A week had gone by. Citizens of the City of Vale soon had to be evacuated due to the rising threat of Grimm. Thankfully, there was a large citadel just a day's journey away where they could take refuge; Fort Stein. Granted, it was built in the days of the Faunus War and designed to repel soldiers, but it would still serve to stand against the Grimm. Vale looked like a ghost town now, but with any luck it would not remain abandoned.

"Professor Ozpin," Ruby said when she heard about the civilians' evacuation to Fort Stein. "Are you sure it's a good idea to let them go there? Wouldn't putting a large number of humans in the same place be dangerous?"

"Hm?" he replied. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if even a single Grimm got inside, the death toll would be high would it not?"

He smiled. "You're right, but that's only _if_ they get inside."

"What?" Ruby asked, confused.

"You've never seen Fort Stein, have you?" She shook her head. "Ordinarily, Ms. Rose, I'd be just as concerned as you are. But Fort Stein is...shall we say, very sturdy."

"You have faith that it will be safe from Grimm?"

"Faith is good. But faith is what I would have when I have nothing else to rely upon. I have the _knowledge_ that Fort Stein is currently one of the safest places in all of Vale." He tapped his cane onto the stone floor beneath him. "It's as sturdy as the stone its named for."

That was that, and Ruby had to believe Ozpin. If Ozpin truly thought that it was safe, then it must be safe. Now the only thing she was worried about what when the Grimm would finally attack. They had been skirting the city, and their numbers were growing exponentially, but they still hadn't made a move against the city or the school yet. Even today, they were skulking in the shadows of the trees.

* * *

Beacon now had a rather sizable wall around its perimeter, designed to keep the lesser Grimm at bay should they come to the school. The first day it was made of plywood and planks, but with each passing day it was strengthened and built upon; now it was thick concrete on the surface with the original wood sitting in the core, as well as various pieces of metal to help it keep its form. Every one hundred feet there was a scaffold for the watchers to stand on as they cast their eyes towards the sounds of the distant Grimm.

It was on one of these scaffolds that Cardin Winchester stared intently into the distance, feeling the rage of confusion bubble up in his core. Though many people didn't like him, he was still trained and dressed as a knight, and as such he was one of the best sentries that Ozpin could have asked for. It wasn't because of his watchman status that Cardin was angry. In fact, his team mates were angry about it, but not he. He volunteered for it and had to order his team to join him. No, what made him mad was the _uncertainty_ of what was skulking in the distant forest.

He'd fought Grimm many times before, and had won just as many times, but even the strongest and toughest can know fear, and Cardin was _afraid_. The howls he heard weren't the normal howls of Grimm; they were the blood thirsty, blood curdling, heart stopping sounds of death as it stalked its prey. In spite of his fear, however, he didn't want to be caught off guard. After a whole week, no one had been sent into the forest to scout it out, and that uncertainty is was scared and angered him.

He heard a small beep come from his scroll; his watch had ended. He turned and saw his replacement climbing the scaffolding. "Hey," said the boy; Cardin barely remembered that his name was Relius. "Time to switch."

"Yeah," Cardin said monotonously. "I really don't like that sound." He nodded his head towards to woods.

"Makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it. I've never heard howls like that before."

"I doubt anyone has," he commented before he jumped down. "Well, keep your eyes peeled." He began walking to grab a bite to eat. He'd been on watch since after breakfast, and it was now almost noon. He was so intent on watching for Grimm that he almost forgot that he was getting hungry. In spite of his attitude a week ago about how easy Grimm were to kill, the more he heard that howling the more he realised that they would be in grave danger. In fact, his watch spot is shared by Velvet, who watches at night. Normally, he'd use the opportunity to ridicule her, but he had put his racism aside in light of duty. He didn't like it, but he knew it had to be done. He felt he made up for it by never acknowledging that she's even there when he arrives in the morning.

Still, he felt unsure of what was really out there. Was that really the sound of an army of Grimm, or just several large Grimm? At this rate, there was only one way to find out; wait for them to attack first. The thought made Cardin freeze in his tracks. _No_, he thought. _I refuse to wait for them to catch us off guard._ With an idea in mind, he made his way to Ozpin's office to lay his thoughts on the table.

* * *

Ozpin's office was somewhat cramped; the Malachite Twins, Sun, and Roman were all present, as well as Ruby who was sitting off to the side. Ozpin was reading a report that Roman had lain in front of him a few minutes ago. Sun felt a smile burning on his face. He wanted to be respectful to Ozpin, but he really, _really_ wanted to make a jab at Roman. Let it be said that Sun has _zero_ self restraint.

"Must hurt your pride, Torch, eh? Look at you standing in front of someone else, acting like a glorified servant," Sun teased, opening a can of worms that he knew would eventually be opened; it was only a matter of time.

"Cute," Roman commented sarcastically. "Tell me a joke I haven't heard yet, then we'll talk."

"You've heard that one?"

"Different variations of it. All week. Got old fast."

Sun smiled. "Guess I'll have to try harder."

"Assuming a bum like you can." Shots fired. Sun was about to retaliate when Roman raised his cane and placed the tip on Sun's throat. "Give me a reason. I dare you."

"Quiet," Ozpin said calmly, forcing both men to stand down, though their glares at each other could cut diamond. The report Ozpin was reading was an inventory of all the things Roman had brought to Beacon. "And you're sure this is everything?"

"Everything I had, plus a little extra that the identical duo helped provide yesterday. Would you believe that Junior made me pay for it?"

"You paid for something?" Sun asked.

"Like you ever have," Ruby commented under breath.

Roman ignored the monkey faunus as he continued. "I only paid for it because we needed the supplies as soon as possible. Sorry, but if there's anything worth paying for, it's necessities to survive this nightmare that's spawned on us."

"I suppose you want to be compensated?" Ozpin asked. No one else but Ruby heard it, but there was a slight trace of annoyance in his voice.

"It wouldn't hurt, but since you're helping me as much as I'm helping you I'll only ask for half what I paid, which means you owe me 500,000 Lien."

The headmaster sighed. "Very well. We shall see what we can do."

"You spent a _million_? What did you buy from Junior?" Ruby asked.

"A number of things. Ammo, food, drinks, _real_ drinks for whenever it's 'one of those' days, and extra fuel for my Bullheads, as well as the one private Bullhead he owned...most of the money went towards that last one."

"Why did you need an extra Bullhead?" Sun asked. "Aren't you the only one who can fly one?"

"No," Ozpin said. "Some of our professors, and I think one student, has a pilot's license."

"Also," Roman added. "The private one is modified. It's larger, which means we can fit more on it. More could be more huntsmen, more cargo; you name it, it'll haul it."

"Which brings me to why I called all of you hear. Roman, you've already said that you'll be our primary pilot, but what are you going to do if your Bullhead gets attacked while you're dusting off?"

Roman was about to answer, but he paused. "Hadn't thought about that, actually."

"I see. Well, it's too dangerous for just one person to operate a Bullhead. So, as our first extraction unit you are going to be a part of a team."

"What, Red's team?" he asked sarcastically.

"No. I was thinking of making a team with our newest assets." Ozpin stood and addressed the people it the room as a whole. "Sun Wukong, Melanie and Militia Malachite, and Roman Torchwick: you will form team SMMR (Summer). Roman, as much as I hate to grant you a position of power, you are the team leader."

"Believe me, Ozpin, I've been in a position of power since I got here. All I have to do is take my stuff and leave."

"Are you going to do that?"

He shook his head. "No. I'd like to be able to go home and sleep soundly at night; that incessant howling won't let me though. I'd like to see an end to that."

"Amen to that," Sun said.

"That means you two need to start getting along," Ruby added, pointing at Roman and Sun. Both men groaned. As dark as the situation was getting, and the fact that it was getting darker, the sight of Roman and Sun interacting put a smile on her face.

"What are you grinning about, Red?" Roman asked.

"Nothing," she said, deciding that she was going to tease them. "I just thought that you two make a cute couple."

Roman's glare shot daggers into Ruby. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a half smoked cigar. "Say one more thing, Red, and I'm taking this to Blondie."

Ruby went pale. "Why...do you still have that?"

Roman smiled. "A rainy day, as they say." He put it away. "You're a team leader, so why do you care about what big sis has to say?"

"_Because_ she's my sister. She's practically my mother a lot of the time."

"Oh? What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Ruby thought. "Since mom died, Yang's always been there for me. She's taught me so much, protected me when I was weak, and she burns brighter than the sun when I'm feeling sad."

"She burns?" Roman asked. "Isn't that a tad literal?"

Ruby giggled. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Roman scoffed. "I guess I just don't see the big deal."

"Maybe if you had a sister you'd understand," Melanie commented, earning a high five from Militia and a smile from Ruby. Roman rolled his eyes.

Ozpin was about to add his thoughts on the matter when a knock came from the door. "Come in," he said. The door opened, and Cardin stepped into the room.

He looked around at the five individuals who were also here before stepping up to Ozpin's desk. "Sir, I think we should sent out a group of recon teams to see what exactly is in the forest. Our latest information is from the faunus who showed up a week ago."

"Standing right here, bro," Sun commented. Cardin didn't acknowledge him.

"Don't mind him," Ruby whispered into Sun's ear. "He, uh, doesn't really care for faunus."

"Ah, I see." Sun kept a watchful eye on Cardin now.

"My point is that we haven't seen a change in a week, but the sounds are getting worse. We need to see what we're up against so that we can plan for it should it attack," Cardin continued.

"I see," Ozpin said. "How many teams should we spare for this recon excursion?"

"I realize we don't have as many teams as we would like, but we should send out at least two. If we recon one area of the forest, it should be logical to assume that other areas are in similar conditions and we can make a rough estimate to plan with. Or maybe even send out two teams on different days to different areas to map it out properly."

Ozpin looked deep in thought. "I agree. I assume you are volunteering your team, Mr. Winchester?"

"Of course, sir. Team CRDL will gladly participate in a recon mission."

"You sure you're not using this as an excuse to skip out on watch duty?" Roman joked.

Cardin wanted to return the remark in kind, but instead he voiced his deeper thoughts to Ozpin. "Sir, I'd like to think that I don't scare easily unless my life is in danger. The last time I was this scared was when the Ursa attacked me in Forever Fall. I don't know what's in those woods, and I don't want to find out, but someone has to make a plan to counter them should they attack us. We can't plan properly if we don't figure out what's out there, am I right?"

"You are correct," Ozpin agreed. "And frankly, I'm proud of you for being proactive enough to suggest this. Thank you. Do you have any recommendations for the second team?"

Cardin shook his head. "I don't know the other teams' skills enough, sir. I'll leave that decision to you."

"Hm...how about team VLVT?" Ozpin asked. "They're very strong, and Ms. Scarlatina is both a very adept mage, and a faunus with heightened senses. I'd wager she'd be invaluable on such a mission."

Cardin was cursing inwardly, but he had to agree. Thankfully the recon he had in mind didn't involve the teams being in direct contact with each other, so he wouldn't have to see her. "Very well. When would you like us to go?"

"One hour. Do be careful, Mr. Winchester. And, that goes for you too, SMMR. Should they need to call for imediate extraction, it is now your job to pick them up. Keep the Bullhead ready."

Roman nodded. "Let's go, team," he said, mild sarcasm seeping through as he said 'team'. "We haven't got all day." The Malachite twins followed him as he left.

Sun stayed for a few seconds. "Well, this sucks," he commented as he finally made his way to the door. Cardin left as well to assemble his team, and Ozpin sent a message to team VLVT. Ruby said goodbye and began to make her way to her dorm.

_CRDL and VLVT, huh?_ she thought. _No one's going to be happy on this mission. Oh well, as long as they come back safe, everything...should..._Her eyes went wide. Her thoughts flashed to her dream.

_Velvet's body was recovered from the Emerald forest. The members of team VLVT were all crying, and Cardin stood over them with a look of sadness. He didn't like faunus, but he would like anyone who would save his life. He owed Velvet that much. The wounds that she died from were gained because Cardin was ambushed by a group of Ursa, and she just happened to see him in danger. Velvet didn't like Cardin, but she had a kind heart. That heart had ceased to beat, and now Cardin felt months' worth of guilt pile onto him at once, but he had no words he could say to make up for anything he had ever done._

"No!" Ruby screamed, tears in her eyes. "How could I forget that? I saw it! I saw it, I was there when they brought her back!" She looked up and saw her sister standing in the door in front of her; Ruby had made it to her room without realizing.

"Sis, are you okay?" Yang asked, concerned.

"Yang! We have to warn them!"

"Warn who? What? What is it?" Yang asked, getting more serious.

"Today, team CRDL and VLVT are going to go on a recon mission. Velvet's going to get seperated from her team by mistake, and in her attempt to find them she's going to find Cardin being ambushed. She's going to die, Yang. She's going to die to protect Cardin!"

"Tch!" Yang almost spat. "To think that she'd die protecting that scumbag after everything he's done to her."

"We have to warn her!"

"No!" Yang declared.

"Wh-what? Why? She'll die!"

"I know, Ruby. But there are other ways to change that. We can't tell her. Can imagine how scared she would be if she knew? She might die from something else because of her paranoia! Anything could happen when fear clouds someone's mind."

"Then...what are we going to do? I can't let her die this time."

Yang looked at her sister thoughtfully. "Leave it to me. You just stay in the room. Have Blake make you some tea. I'll be back."

* * *

"Okay," Cardin began explaining to his team, and team VLVT. He pointed at a map of the surrounding forest. "We're gonna start here in grids A and B for now. Team CRDL takes A, VLVT takes B. If you see anything major, do not engage; report it over the radio and keep track of as much information about it as possible. We're not going in for combat unless absolutely neccesary, understood?" He saw seven heads nod, four of which very clearly hated him.

He nodded, and the two teams began to assemble their equipment; weapons, ammo, headsets for communication, and so on. In the courtyard nearby, Cardin could hear the sound of a Bullhead firing up; Roman was getting ready in case he was needed. Cardin didn't like Roman, and suspected that he wouldn't be reliable should they need an extraction. Still, he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

"Hey! Cardin!" he heard from behind. He turned and saw Yang calling him over.

_That's odd_, he thought. _What could she want?_ He walked over, telling his team that he'd be right back. "What's up?" he asked.

"Listen," she said with a darkly serious tone. "I want you to look over there." She pointed and Cardin looked. He saw Velvet.

"What about her?" he asked, almost irritated. He had an idea as to where it was going from here.

"She's a sweet girl, don't you think? She's polite, doesn't get into trouble, has quite a few friends. Did you know my sister is one of her friends?"

"Look, if you're worried I'm taking her into the woods to hurt her, then you're wrong, okay? We're not even going to see each other until the mission's over."

"Oh, that's not what I'm worried about. Remember Ruby's dream?" Cardin nodded. Yang continued with, "Velvet is going to die today on this mission. She dies protecting your sorry ass."

Cardin's eyes went wide. "Why would she do that for me? I'm not her friend," he said defiantly.

"Like I said; she's a sweet girl." She leaned into Cardin's ear to whisper, "If I don't see her come back in one piece, I will personally give you a beating so hard that you'll wish you were dead." She leaned back. "So, promise me that she will."

Cardin didn't care for the blonde, but he knew she was serious, and that she _could_ make do on that threat. "I promise."

She smiled. In spite of her menacing tone moments ago, her smile seemed sweet and gentle. Truly, Yang was a force to be reckoned with. "I'll be looking for you when you get back." She seemed to walk away happily.

Cardin nodded and returned to his team. "Time we left," he yelled for both teams to hear. "Mic check." He and the others tested the communication system. "Alright, let's head out!" The two teams left the confines of the concrete barrier and split up; one went East, the other went West.

* * *

Two hours had gone by. Team VLVT had been split apart. Minutes ago they saw a large group of Beowolves. There was no way that the team would go unnoticed if they stayed together, so the opted to split into individual groups until they could circumvent them. The only problem was that not long after the split, Velvet's headset stopped working. _Great_, she thought. _Now I can't talk to my team. I won't know where they plan to rendezvous._

Maybe her scroll could still track where other Beacon scrolls were. She pulled it out once she knew she wouldn't be spotted by Grimm, and checked for nearby pings. Unfortunatley, this feature had a very limited range. That being said, she saw a single ping that was within range. "Must be one of my team mates," she said in a low voice as she began to make her way towards the ping.

Team CRDL had to split up as well, as they found several Ursa that had gathered. Cardin was in communication with his team still, but there was no need to talk yet; not all of his team had given the 'green light' that they were safe away from the Ursa. He was safe for now, so he waited to hear from all of them.

While he waited, he thought about Yang's warning. _Why would Velvet sacrifice herself for me? _he thought. Yang's response echoed in his head.

_'Like I said; she's a sweet girl.'_

He didn't like her; he didn't like any faunus. Although, he did ease up on her as of late. Even before the comet showed up, he started to take it easy. That was because of Jaune in Forever Fall. Cardin chuckled lightly. _I don't know what's worse; the fact that Jaune saved me, or that I was sort of happy that he manned up._ Cardin may have been a jerk, but with the comet and the Grimm that came with it, he decided to be efficient over his own wants and likes and dislikes. You don't have to like someone, so long as you can work with them for a common goal. That was his mentality.

No one would think so by seeing how he normally acted, but Cardin actually held promises very high on his priorities. Once a promise was made, it had to be kept. He had made a promise to Yang, but he didn't know how he would keep it. Maybe he would recognize the moment she was supposed to save him? If Ruby's dream really was a premonition of sorts, and today was the day that Velvet would perish protecting Cardin, then that means that he would see Velvet during the mission. He looked at his scroll: there was still an hour left in the mission before they were to turn back and return to Beacon.

He heard a break over his headset. It was Sky. "I'm clear," he said. Dove came in a moment later and said that he was clear as well.

"Alright," Cardin said. "We'll meet up in five minutes, understood?" They gave their affirmatives. He was about to tell them that he was on his way, but he heard a shuffle from behind. He turned and saw a large Ursa twenty yards away glaring at him. _Fuck. _he thought, hoping that is may not have spotted him. It had. "Guys, I could use some help. There's an Ursa that's spotted me," he whispered.

"On our way!" Russel said.

Cardin and the Ursa sat still, staring at each other. "Easy now," Cardin said. "You don't want to come at me." The Ursa thought differently. Cardin took one step back, and that motion prompted the Grimm into baring its fangs in a loud growl as his began charging him. Cardin cursed as he deployed his mace. He swung to try to deflect the bear, but it simply swiped the weapon from his hands and knocked him backwards into a boulder.

His weapon landed near him, so he wasn't truly disarmed, but he didn't feel that he had enough time to grab it and try to fight again. The Ursa was upon him, ready to claw at his flesh, when Cardin saw a brown blur appear in front of him; it was Velvet. She was in front of the Ursa, trying to prepare a spell to counter it with, but Cardin could see, almost in slow motion, that she wasn't fast enough. When a mage is focused on casting their spells, their Aura is weaker; Velvet was going to be killed before she could use the spell.

Cardin didn't think as he moved. Using his legs, he kicked Velvets ankles and caused her to fall backwards; just in time for the Ursa to miss her body and swipe at the air. In the same motion as the kick, Cardin twisted his body to grab his mace and he launched his body at the Ursa, hitting it with full force. With every strike the Ursa stepped back, and Cardin even heard bones breaking with large cracking sounds. He didn't realize it, but he was fighting recklessly.

Velvet recovered and stood up, once more charging a spell. This time, with no interruptions, the spell was ready. However, she couldn't cast it; Cardin blocked her shot. "Move!" she yelled. "I can hit it if you get move!"

"I'm trying!" He yelled back. The Ursa was getting angry and was swinging its claws at Cardin, usually making contact. Cuts and gashes started to form all over Cardin's face, arms, and torso. Instinctively, he went to block the Ursa with his left arm. The blow that the bear dealt was devastation, tearing off most of the flesh of his left arm, and even removing some of the fingers from his hand. He screamed in agony, but kept fighting.

Velvet was getting desperate; she saw Cardin about to be attacked by an Ursa so she jumped in to help, but now he was being injured and she didn't have a clear shot. One more blow and Cardin was once more sent flying into the boulder; this time he was so exhausted that his Aura failed him before he impacted, shattering many ribs and a few bits of his spine. Velvet took the opportunity to blast the Ursa. "Rot in hell!" she yelled as her spell fired off and the Ursa exploded.

She gasped for air, exhausted from holding the spell for so long. "Cardin!" she cried as she rushed to him. "Cardin are you alright?"

He tried to laugh. "You idiot. Of course I'm not alright. I...I can't feel my legs."

"Oh no," Velvet whispered. "We're gonna call for Roman, okay? We're gonna get you fixed up." She ripped off a piece of her top and tried to wrap it around Cardin's arm to stop the bleeding. There were too many open wounds to cover up, and Cardin was likely bleeding internally; he was most likely going to die. She grabbed his headset and turned it to where both teams could hear. "This is Velvet; Cardin's been severely wounded, and we need extraction!"

Within seconds, the sound of Roman's voice coupled with Bullhead engines came, "On my way, little lady. Hang tight!"

"It would have been you," Cardin whispered.

"What?" she asked.

"I was supposed to live, and you were going to die. Ruby saw it happen. Yang told me, and made me promise that you would come back alive."

"But...but you hate me. You hate all faunus." Velvet had tears in her eyes.

"I still do...but I don't wish death on anyone. Not even an animal like you."

The rest of team CRDL arrived. "Cardin!" Dove exclaimed. He turned to Velvet. "What happened?!" he asked angrily.

"I..I tried to help him, but..."

"This is your fault!" Sky yelled, preparing to strike her.

"Leave her alone," Cardin interrupted. "I saved her. I won't have you undoing what I've done." He turned to Velvet. "I know what they think of me at Beacon. I won't be remembered as a cruel, heartless bastard! I refuse that fate!"

"No," Dove said. "Don't talk like that. You're gonna be fine."

Velvet knew better. He was a goner, no matter what anyone did at this point; he'd lost too much blood. "Cardin, I'll see to it that you're remembered as a hero."

He smiled. "A hero, huh?" That doesn't sound too bad." He raised his right hand and placed his mace into Velvet's hands. "I made a promise, Velvet. Don't make me break that promise."

The sound of a Bullhead above them made them look up; Roman was landing in a nearby clearing. Velvet's team showed up around the same time and they helped Velvet carry Cardin into the drop ship. They didn't make it back to Beacon before Cardin slipped from life.

* * *

Team RWBY was waiting in the courtyard, prepared for the worst. Yang saw the Bullhead take off, which meant that something had happened and forced the recon teams to call for an extraction. _I swear, Cardin, if she doesn't make it back..._

Within moments, the Bullhead came into view and descended to land. School nurses rushed over and opened the doors, ready to help the wounded. Seven occupants slowly got out, wearing grim expressions on their faces; among them was Velvet, which made Yang breathe a sigh of relief.

"Where's Cardin?" Weiss asked. That caused yang to look again.

She saw Russel drop to his knees and scream incoherently. _Oh no_, she thought. Sun and Roman stepped out of the Bullhead, carrying a single black bag; a body bag. Yang ran, ignoring Weiss's call for her to come back.

She stopped in front of Velvet. "What happened?" she asked, almost frantically.

Velvet, still crying, met Yang's gaze. "He...he wouldn't let me help him. I tried to save him but he...he knocked me out of the way. He died trying to keep me alive."

Yang's heart sank. She had tried to save a life, and inadvertently caused another to be lost in its place. She hugged Velvet tightly, like she had for Ruby so many times before, but it wasn't Velvet she was trying to comfort.

It was herself.

* * *

Sun sat alone on a courtyard bench. It was night now, and he had swapped watch Duty with Blake for the night. She knew why he didn't want to sit watch, and she agreed. All of his life Sun had been on his own and had experienced hardship, but today was his first encounter with death in any form. Was this the bleak future that everyone was going to be subjugated to?

"Can't sleep?" he heard a voice; the voice of the man who helped him carry Cardin's body from the Bullhead. He looked up and he saw Roman. "Mind if I join you?"

Sun didn't like Roman, but he wanted some company. "Be my guest."

Roman nodded and sat down next to him. "The first time you've seen someone die?" Sun nodded. "It's never easy. In fact, I don't think it gets any easier."

"What do you care? You're a criminal. I've heard you've even murdered before."

Roman met Sun's gaze. "That doesn't mean I enjoy it."

"You shot at us all, remember? You tried to kill us!"

Roman shook his head. "If I wanted any of you dead, you wouldn't have had the chance to fight me. My murderous intent is for show; it's a trick. I'm a thief, and I will use any method to steal what I want, and that includes making you think that I'll kill you."

Sun stared intently at Roman, not sure what to make of his speech. "Why should I trust you?"

Roman smiled a sad smile. "You can't. Not yet anyway. I've always believed that you can't trust a man until you've had a nice, strong drink with him. Also, I'd say today's events are worth getting drunk over. So," he reached into his coat and removed a silver flask. "How about we get to trusting each other?"

Sun looked at the flask, then back to Roman. "Teach me how to fly the Bullhead tomorrow. If we're going to work together to try to save people, then we need as many people who are able to fly as possible."

Roman nodded. "Deal." He took a sip out of the flask and passed to Sun.

"Deal," he replied before taking a sip of his own. The night was darker than ever, Beacon was down a huntsmen, and the howling of Grimm could be heard louder than ever; it was almost as if they knew that they had killed one of their enemies.

"They'll attack soon, I'm sure," Roman commented.

"Yeah. And where will we be when they come?"

* * *

_Song: 7 Days to the Wolves-Nightwish_

**AUTHOR'S NOTE  
**

This is the longest chapter yet. I hope I made Cardin somewhat likable, while maintaining is asshole attitude. I literally have been sitting here since about 7:30 writing this (It's 11:30 now) I was in such a hurry to write it that I didn't eat much dinner and had to stop near the end (3 hours after i started) to grab more food. Don't skip meals, children. It's not healthy.

The first step into the night has been taken, and our first death has occurred. Our _first_ death, I repeat. There will be more. And its just now hitting me that this is going to be a long story. I hope you guys stick around for the ending, because I actually know exactly how I'm going to end it. It's great, but you'll have to wait a while to see it for yourself. Quite a while it seems.

Till next time!


	6. Chapter 5: Lilium

Chapter 5: Lilium

_Why does it always rain on sad days?_ Ruby thought as she stood in one of the courtyards of Beacon with her team by her side. Team RWBY, as well as most of the other teams, were wearing black; today was the day after Cardin died, and Ozpin insisted on holding a funeral ceremony for him. Ruby had even discarded her red cloak for the day. Everyone was standing silently, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

The doors behind them opened, and out walked team CRDN and Jaune; they were carrying Cardin on Jaune's and Pyrrha's shields. Their faces were grim, their clothes dark, and Cardin's body had been cleaned up as much as possible to make him appear to be resting peacefully. The four men marched slowly through the center aisle that parted the people in attendance and approached a large pyre in the center of the courtyard. There was no way they could give Cardin a proper burial, so they decided to send him off in flames; a funeral fit for a king, some would say.

They stopped before the pyre and set down their shields before gently raising Cardin's body to the center of what would soon be aflame. Ozpin stood before the crowd, his face somber. "It is a dark day," he began. "But this is the life that we have chosen. Risk comes with being a hunter and a huntress. I wish I could tell you that you will always survive a mission. I wish I could protect you all as though you were my own children. I cannot." He paused, taking in a deep breath. "Cardin was not an ideal student. He was brash, and often disagreeable. He was far from being a role model. But, he was a good warrior, far more intelligent than he ever let on, and he was honorable. He died for his honor; a cause worth dying for. He made a promise, and he saw to it that he would keep that promise to the very end. We should all be proud of him, and remember him as a hero."

He looked into the eyes of his students...no, not students. They were huntsmen and huntresses now. All of them were full of tears, fear, and sadness. "Would anyone else like to say a few words?" he asked finally. None approached. "Very well." Glynda stepped forward and handed him a torch. The oils that would be burning would not be extinguished by the falling rain.

He was about to place the torch onto the pyre when Yang stepped forward. "Wait!" she shouted. "Let me do it." Ozpin met her gaze and nodded sullenly, stepping back. He offered the torch to her, but she refused. She knelt in front of the pyre. "I made you promise to save Velvet," she whispered. "You kept that promise. I...I'm sorry though. I'll send you off, Cardin, with my own power." She channeled her aura into her right palm, focusing her semblance. She wasn't used to having this level of control over her flames; they were usually much more chaotic, and only controlled when she used Ember Celica. Due to the amount of concentration, she was getting tired, but finally she had it controlled enough to hold a small ball of flame in her hand.

She threw it onto the pyre, and Cardin went up in flames. She closed her eyes and let the heat wash over her, warming her from the cold rains. Weiss's voice began to reach her ears; she was singing.

_"Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam,_  
_Et lingua eius loquetur indicium._

_Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem,_  
_Quoniqm cum probates fuerit accipient coronam vitae._

_Kyrie, fons bonitatis._  
_Kyrie, ignis divine, eleison._

_O quam sancta, quam serena,_  
_Quam benigma, quam amoena esse Virgo creditur._  
_O quam sancta, quam serena,_  
_Quam benigma, quam amoena,_  
_O castitatis lilium."_

Yang didn't know the song, but it was beautiful to her ears. She tried not to cry during the ceremony, but the song pushed her over the edge as she released the tears that she had been fighting. The fire was burning high, but the only thing she could hear was Weiss's voice. Not the rain, not the crying, not even Ozpin's consolations; just the music.

* * *

Roman was laying on a couch in his room. Wasn't much of a room, really. It was a small classroom that could hold roughly twenty students, but it hadn't been used in a while. As such, he had claimed it for his living space some time ago, moving a couch and a mini fridge into the room. Here he lay, sprawled out on his couch, smoking a cigar. His coat and hat were on a nearby rack; he didn't want to go do anything today. He went to the funeral, but being what it was had left him feeling depressed.

He heard a knock on the door. Part of him wanted to yell "Fuck off!", but on the off chance that it was important, he answered, "It's open." The door opened and revealed a certain petite figure that he'd come to know. However, she was still lacking her one feature that usually stuck in Roman's mind; her favorite color.

"You okay?" Ruby asked, concerned.

"Just peachy," was his sarcastic reply. "What do you want, Red?"

"My name's not Red."

"That's not an answer to my question."

Ruby sighed. "I just wanted to check in on you. I was kind of worried."

"You're worried about _me_?" He almost wanted to laugh.

"Well, yeah. It doesn't take a perceptive person to see that you're bothered by what happened yesterday."

He wanted to lie, or say something sarcastic. He decided against it; he wasn't in the mood for toying with Ruby. "Who wouldn't be?" He looked over at her. "Lemme guess; you thought that I'd be okay with it because of who I am, right?"

Ruby looked away, as if ashamed. "I honestly don't know what I expected from you. I guess I'm just shocked that you took it this hard."

Roman sighed as his head came crashing back down to the cushion of the couch. "Have a seat," he told her, making room for her by moving his legs. Ruby nodded and sat down, and she was surprised when Roman put his legs back where they had been, only now they were on top of Ruby's legs. Before she could protest, he began talking again. "How are you feeling about it, Red?"

"I'm...I guess I'm just as shocked as everyone else. No one expected him to die."

"Not even you?"

"No. Velvet was supposed to die yesterday. Yang told me what happened. She warned Cardin about Velvet and made him promise to keep her safe."

"Tell me, Red; what would his fate have been if events had played out like they were supposed to?" he asked.

"Cardin...he would have died in the same battle that Blake and I die in. Over a year from now."

"A year, huh?" Roman stared at the ceiling. "I don't want that day to happen."

"Nothing's changed," Ruby said sadly. "Velvet lived instead of Cardin, but she'll probably die in that battle like Cardin would have."

"Does your knowledge of the future not change as conditions are altered?"

"No. It was just the one dream...I guess I should start calling it a premonition, huh?" She offered a weak smile.

"You said," Roman started. "You said that I live, right? That I witness your death?" Ruby nodded. "I'll try my best to help until then, I suppose. God only knows what's going to happen in the next year now that conditions have been altered."

"What do you mean?"

"You knew this was coming. By telling everyone before hand, you gave them at least a week's head start. I probably would still be working for Cinder right now. In your premonition I probably didn't join you for several weeks, or even months, right?" She nodded again. "Then even you don't know what's going to happen from here on out. Too much has changed already." He raised himself up and offered Ruby the cigar he was smoking. "Isn't that a good thing?"

She stared at the cigar. "I'm not doing that again," she said bluntly.

He shrugged. "More for me." He inhaled deeply. "My point is, Red, that we have to focus on the now. Worry about later when later comes." Another knock came from the door. "What?" Roman called.

Sun entered and paused, seeing the position that Roman was seated with his legs draped over Ruby's. "Am I...interrupting something?"

"Not quite. Bit too young for me. What's up?" Ruby blushed, and a slight wave of anger and frustration washed over her.

Sun nodded. "I'm ready to learn how to fly."

Roman stood and donned his coat and hat. "I'll talk to you later, Red. We've got work to do." The two men left the room and closed the door, leaving Ruby alone.

She shook her head in frustration. "I swear, conversations with that man give me a headache!" she exclaimed.

* * *

Heavy grunts and gasps for air echoed throughout Beacon's gym. It was empty with the exception of Yang sparring with a punching bag. Her mind was clear, focusing on nothing but the bag of sand that hung before her as her fists collided into it at full force. She wasn't wearing sparring gloves, and had torn skin off of her knuckles in the process; the white punching bag was quickly getting stained with small blotches of blood with every impact.

This is why she came here; to forget about Cardin and his funeral. However, his face would come into her mind every time she took a break to catch her breath; as such, her breaks started becoming far and few in between. She never liked Cardin, and she could even argue that she hated him, but she wasn't a monster. No matter how much she disliked someone, she never liked the concept of wishing true ill upon someone, let alone death. Even Roman, who had once shot her little sister, was not the subject of such whims and wishes from Yang. Granted, she did want to pummel him and break his face, but she would never put his life at risk.

She tried to reason that Velvet was an innocent soul and that she of all people deserved life, but she couldn't justify trading one life for another in her mind. It seemed as though fate had intended that one should live and one should die; Yang only altered the roles that the two lives would play, thus changing who lived and who died. In her mind, no one should have that much influence.

Yang continued to punch away at the sandbag, her knuckles dripping more and more blood, when she heard a frightened gasp. "Yang!" cried the voice of Blake, who had just entered the gym. She was most likely searching for Yang. "Yang, stop!" she yelled as she ran over and forcibly grabbed Yang's arms.

"No!" Yang protested. "I need this!" Even though she verbally argued against Blake, she was far too exhausted to really fight back.

"Yang, you're hurting yourself," Blake voiced calmly, carefully pulling Yang to a nearby bench. She forced Yang to sit down, who found that upon finding rest her legs refused to let her stand up. Blake gave Yang a sad, sympathetic look. "Let me see these." She gently grabbed Yang's hands and looked over her partner's wounds. She sighed and walked over to a nearby first aid station that hung on the wall before returning with a box of disinfectant and bandages.

"Don't-"

"Shut up," Blake said sternly. "If you aren't going to act like the big sister you are, then I will. You need to clean these wounds up, or you're going to develop an infection in your knuckles." Without saying another word, Blake quickly cleaned Yang's hands and wrapped half of her hand and fingers in bandages. Fastening the last bandage, Blake finally smiled. "There, all better." She looked up to see Yang's sad face.

"It's all my fault," Yang whispered.

"Yang, don't do this."

"It's all my fault, Blake. If Ruby hadn't told me what was going to happen I'd have been oblivious to it. Velvet would have died and we'd all be sad, but we'd know that she died a noble death. Cardin died because I told him about it. He took my words, promised to protect Velvet at all costs, and died fulfilling the promise he made to me."

"Yang."

"I've never felt so awful in all my life. Not even when mom died. I felt horrible then, but I knew that it wasn't my fault. I'm guilty for Cardin's death."

"Yang," Blake repeated.

"There's nothing I can do to atone for what I've done." Yang was about to go on, but Blake slapped her face, causing her head to jerk to the right.

She turned to look at Blake, who was now in tears. "You be quiet right this instant, young lady!" she said, forcing an angry tone. "This is not your fault!"

"But I told him-"

"That Velvet would die. He was reckless, afraid that he would break his promise and wasn't willing to risk Velvet for an instant. He may have hated her, but he refuses to break a promise, Yang. He may have been too reckless about it, but he died fighting for his beliefs, and he died a hero. The only thing you are guilty of is regretting his death rather than honor him." Blake grabbed Yang's wrist. "What you're doing right now is self destructive. How do you think your sister would feel is she saw you right now?"

Yang looked away, feeling ashamed. "She's a team leader now. She's stronger than she looks."

"And she's weaker than you give her credit for. As team leader, she's _supposed_ to be strong, Yang." The blonde brawler had to meet Blake's gaze again. "Deep down, I know she's still a scared little girl who's facing her worst nightmare."

"Blake...I..."

"Yang, I know how you feel. I'm a faunus! I've experienced pain and loss; some were family, others acquaintances I barely knew, but the loss was no less severe or less real. Right now, you need to accept what has been done, and put it away. Lock it down deep inside your heart."

Yang was appalled. "Are you telling me to _forget_ about it?"

"No! Never forget, Yang!" Blake replied sternly. "Always remember those who we've lost, but don't let them distract you." Blake inhaled deeply to help herself calm down; it had the added effect of helping Yang calm down. "Ruby may be good at pretending to be strong, but she still needs her big sister's support. She may not say it, but she looks up to you like a mother at times."

"M-mother?"

Blake nodded. "She needs you to be strong, Yang. Or else her own strength will diminish and fade...and the rest of team RWBY will fade with her."

Yang stared at her bandaged fingers. Images of Ruby as a young, little girl flashed through her head, and she remembered how she supported her frantic and distraught sister after their mother died. She looked back at Blake, who was now smiling at her. Yang could only smile back and nod. She had a baby sister to support, and she felt silly for forgetting, even if only for a moment.

* * *

Ruby stood watch on the wall, deciding that she would be the only member of her team to do so on this day. She watched the woods worriedly as the sounds of Grimm continued to echo between the trees. Somewhere in there is the corpse of the Ursa that killed Cardin, and there were hundreds more to take its place, unlike Beacon, which had a finite number of huntsmen and huntresses. The rain continued to pour, but Ruby was wearing her cloak now to protect herself from the elements.

Ruby was so focused on her watch duty that she didn't notice Weiss approach her until she felt the heiress's finger tap her shoulder. "Hm?" Ruby asked.

Weiss was wearing her usual attire, with the addition of a white coat to protect against the cold that the rain brought, and she was carrying a plastic bag and an umbrella. "You've been out here for a few hours. I thought I'd bring you something to eat," Weiss explained softly.

Ruby nodded a thank you and accepted the plastic bag. Weiss stood with her, driving the rain away with her umbrella as Ruby rummaged through the bag, producing a can of coffee and a ham sandwich. It wasn't much, but Ruby was thankful that Weiss had thought to bring her this much.

She began to nibble at the sandwich when Weiss spoke up. "That sound...it's horrifying."

Ruby turned to face the forest. "It gets worse," she added. "Much worse."

"I don't like the sound of that." Weiss sighed. "But as long as we have hope, we can outlast it, I'm sure."

That comment made Ruby consider something; something she hadn't thought since her mother died. "Weiss, do you think that Cardin is somewhere else right now?"

Weiss turned to Ruby. "What do you mean?"

"Do you think...that there's a life after death in some form. Is there a heaven we can go to after we die?"

Weiss smiled weakly. "I like to think so. To believe otherwise, to me, is terrifying. I don't like the thought of not existing. If my spirit lingers in another realm, then I still exist somewhere. That's what I like to think."

"I've always questioned it," Ruby added. "My mother died when I was young, and I never knew if I would get to see her again or not. And now Cardin is dead, and everyone seems to think that yesterday was the last time anyone will ever see him." She looked down, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "I'm scared to die, Weiss. I know it's coming for me. It's coming for all of team RWBY. I don't want that."

Weiss hugged Ruby from behind. "Thanks to your knowledge, Ruby, we have a chance at life. And even if we do die, don't think of it as if it is entirely terrible. Should we all perish, we'll be able to meet each other on the other side. You'll get to see your mother again, too."

Ruby began to cry more. "You really believe that?"

Weiss nodded. "With all my heart, Ruby." The rains kept pouring down throughout the night, and each member of team RWBY felt that their resolve had strengthened. Cardin may have died, but his death didn't weaken them; it seemed to now make them all stronger. The huntsmen and huntresses of Beacon would see the Grimm start to openly move in the coming weeks, but they were ready to raise hell against the dark monsters.

Unfortunately, so were the Grimm, who seemed to bring Hell with them.

* * *

_Song: Lilium_

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

My apologies on the wait time. I went dark on Thursday (April 17) and left for a convention. Got home yesterday and had to go straight to bed because I started working my job at the Street Dept. again today (April 21). So happy to be working again. I should be in bed right now, but I had to finish this chapter. I would like to point out that I didn't label the artist of Lilium because I don't know who wrote it. I'm certain (could be wrong) that it's a REALLY old song, but I first heard it in the anime Elfen Lied. Look into it.

So, a little but of necessary filler with a semi-cliffhanger ending...why do I love cliffhangers so fucking much? I write them all the time! I would like to point out that I love writing for Roman, and I picture him casually how I myself act casually; legs stretched over a couch, and even if someone sits down next to me I just put my legs on top of them.

Fun fact: I had a scare today! Most people who know me know that I have a phobia of snakes. Very strong and deep seated. I move my dad's car today, and when I opened the door to get out a fucking snake fell out of the door and onto the ground. I have no shame in admitting that I screamed like a bitch and slammed the door to keep the snake away from me. I don't know how the snake got wedged between the door and the rest of the car in the first place, but I swore to my father that until he can insure that there are no snakes in or around that vehicle that I will never, ever drive it again. I. Hate. Snakes.

Till next time! (Still don't want to be lynched.)


	7. Chapter 6: Remnants

Chapter 6: Remnants

Smoke covered the city of Vale. Thankfully, most of the civilians had evacuated to Fort Stein, so casualties were low, but the city still echoed of ghosts that weren't there; it was an empty shell of its former glory. Like a page straight from a horror story, the streets were empty and devoid of natural life, save for the skulking Grimm that lurked about, hunting for anything or anyone to feast upon.

It was here in the streets of Vale that Ren found himself. Separated from the rest of team JNPR, he remained stoic and cool during his trying ordeal. Jaune and Pyrrha were nearby, as they had holed up in a nearby department store to wait for Ren and Nora to return. Nora was also nearby. Their separation was unintentional, but worked out in the end; the two friends had found separate sources of what they came for.

Food and water was hidden all over Vale where the people had just abandoned it in their frenzy to evacuate. Beacon wasn't terribly low on the necessities, but it was always a good idea to stock up every so often to make sure that you never ran out. Team JNPR volunteered for the job, as well as team LNER and the remnants of team CRDL.

A crackling noise came over Ren's headset, causing him to wince in discomfort. "LNER and CRDL are out of the city; SMMR returning to dust off JNPR. Be ready, kiddos!" said the voice of Roman Torchwick. While many people didn't like Roman, Ren had to respect him in the sense that Roman was able to maintain a very strong and calming attitude during these trying days. Sure, he was a jerk, and 'calming' would usually the last adjective one would use to describe him, but it seemed like he was one of the few people who could still act like himself in the face of this cataclysm. Cynical, sarcastic, and narcissistic, but still interesting, sociable, and intelligent.

"You heard him, guys," Jaune said over the radio next. "Get to the extraction zone immediately. We'll meet you there. Ren, Nora, you catch that?"

"Yeah~!" Nora cheered next, causing Ren's ear to ache. "On my way!"

"I'll be there," was all Ren said. Storm Flower at the ready, Ren began to carefully make his way to the extraction point; the very rooftop where Ruby and Roman had first fought. It was far too quiet to Ren's liking, which is impressive considering how quiet he usually was. Perhaps he was used to Nora's incessant babbling, or Jaune's constant inquisitions for assistance from whoever was willing? No, that couldn't be it. Those noises were always nice, but he enjoyed quiet from them at times. No, this silence wasn't a lack of Nora or anyone else in particular; it was a lack of _everything_. Even the electrical hum of streetlights was absent due to the fact that it was mid day.

In short, Ren found total and complete silence to be quite disturbing. He glanced up into the blue sky and saw the source of the nightmare that resided all around him; the black comet. Many people from beacon had called it different things; Black Rose because Ruby 'discovered' it, Darkstar because it was very bright in spite of its black color, and even Grimm's Comet, but Ren only called it one thing. Ruby never felt the need to name it, but she knew what it was just as much as he did; it was a messenger of destruction, a prophet of death, and a courier of fate. Ren called it Harbinger.

Ren looked up upon hearing the sound of jet engines; Roman's Bullhead flew over his head as it raced towards to extraction point. _Time to hurry_, he thought. Storm Flower in his hands, he began to run after the drop ship. He overlooked the group of Grimm that spotted him as he ran, and they gave chase.

* * *

Minutes later, Roman touched down, waiting "patiently" for the two teams to arrive. Team LNER had already arrived and were waiting in the Bullhead, and three of the members of team JNPR were walking towards to drop ship. "Where's Ren?" Nora asked.

"He said he was on his way," Jaune replied, sounding unsure.

"I hope he's okay," Pyrrha added. "Maybe we should go look for him?"

The sound of gunfire drew their attention. "I think you found him," Roman said sarcastically. The three members of team JNPR turned towards the sound and saw Ren running as fast as he could, firing Storm Flower behind himself at the Beowolves and Ursa that chased him.

"Ren!" Nora exclaimed. She drew Magnhild in hammer form and raced to help her friend.

"Nora, get back!" Ren exclaimed, discharging his firearms in rapid succession. She ignored him and swung viciously at her foes, killing two Beowolves in a single swing. An Ursa took a swipe at Nora, who couldn't move her hammer fast enough to block. Frantic, Ren stepped in front of the claws and blocked with his weapons; the left pistol shattered, shocking himself and Nora.

He tossed the remains of the weapon to the ground; it was useless and beyond repair. With his now free left hand he grabbed Nora and evaded the Ursa's next attack and raced to the Bullhead. "C'mon!" Sun exclaimed as he hung out of the door and forced all of team JNPR into the aircraft. "Let's go, Torch!"

"Got it!" Roman replied, immediately taking off.

The teams were safe in the air, heading back to Beacon. "Ren," Nora said sadly. "Your gun."

Ren nodded, looking down at his remaining pistol. "Gun's can be replaced, Nora," he said after a long pause. "You can't be." For the first time that Nora could ever recall, Ren initiated a hug. "You're more valuable than Storm Flower."

Nora felt tears well up in her eyes as she returned the hug. "You're valuable to me too, Ren."

"Good God, just kiss already!" Roman yelled from the cockpit.

Sun laughed. "Way to ruin the mood," he said.

"Honestly," Roman whispered. "This a drop ship, not a love boat."

* * *

Ruby stood on the rooftop of her dorm, overlooking the work taking place below. By her recollection, several others should have died by now; Cardin was still Beacon's only casualty. She decided that Roman must have been right; by telling everyone her dream she had changed the many outcomes that she thought may have been predetermined. The number of survivors gave her confidence and strength in herself and those around her; they were going to outlast this cataclysm.

Below in the courtyards between the buildings, her fellow huntsmen and huntresses scurried about, organizing supplies, heading out or returning from recon missions, and helping anyone who may be wounded. She could see some of the watchers on the wall around the school as well, and she was beginning to notice that the Grimm's howling wasn't coming from the Emerald Forest anymore. It seemed as though most of the Grimm had moved on, or had made their abode in the ghost town that was Vale.

Though, in spite of the incredible survival rate that was being displayed, Ruby still felt sadened by the events that had transpired. Smoke constantly rose from somewhere in Vale; likely where fires had been set either intentionally or accidentally in a panic to escape the Grimm. The black comet still dominated the sky, casting a shadow over the world in the light of day. If her memory of the dream was correct, it would pass out of Remnant's view in another week or so, but the Grimm menace would stay. The comet had given them strength and numbers, and there wasn't much to eliminate their numbers at this point. As long as the Grimm population outnumbered humanity like it was currently, the human race would be at a constant disadvantage.

A Bullhead came into Ruby's view; Roman's. _I guess they're back_, she thought. She stayed a few minutes longer to make sure that her friends from JNPR and LNER had made it back in one piece; thankfully, no one seemed to be hurt. Although, she did notice that Nora had her arm locked around Ren's. Not a terribly strange sight, per se, but interesting all the same. It actually made Ruby smile. She looked at her scroll to check the time. "I guess it's dinner time."

* * *

"No, you idiot! That goes over to that pile with the rest of the canned food. It goes into storage! Perishables go to the kitchen to be eaten as soon as possible!" Weiss exclaimed wildly as she directed the traffic of supplies throughout the courtyard. "Honestly, do you want frozen meat to sit for longer than it already has? We'll be lucky if it's still edible at all right now!"

"You look to be having fun," said a girl's voice. Weiss turned to adress whomever it was. She saw a girl about her age with short black hair, a blue coat, and a gunblade strapped across her back. Weiss didn't remember her name, but she knew that she was the leader of team LNER.

"May I help you, er..."

"Luna," she finished for Weiss. "I just wanted to tell you that we brought some stuff back from Vale that's still on the Bullhead."

"Oh. Well, thank you, Luna. I'll send someone to pack it away immediatly." She pointed at a young man. "You! Get the supplies recovered by team LNER right away!"

He nodded and booked it to the Bullhead; Weiss as a supervisor was rough, hard, and efficient. No doubt this was a trait she picked up from her family. Luna laughed quietly. "Also, I wanted to tell you that I think you're doing a fantastic job."

This confused Weiss. "Well, thank you, but why feel the need to tell me so?"

"It's a tough job, managing others. I feel like I can barely lead my three team mates at times. I love them well enough, but it's a stressful job. Yet, look at you. You're not even a team leader, but you're doing an amazing job of organizing everyone here."

Weiss smiled. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. I kind of feel bad that I used to want Ruby to relinquish her leadership to me, but that was before I knew how stressful it could be. Now, I just want to make things easier on her."

Luna laughed. "That's the way teams should be." She gave a polite bow. "Have a nice day, Weiss."

"You too," the heiress replied as Luna walked away. She sighed. "Back to work, I suppose."

* * *

Sun stood awkwardly in the courtyard. Sitting on a nearby bench, taking a break from the day's hard work, was Melanie and Militia. The three of them had been working together for a couple of weeks at this point, and Sun didn't like working with people he knew nothing about. However, he didn't dislike the twins at all; he was just wasn't privy to any information about them. He intended to change that.

He just didn't know how.

Up until now, team SMMR had been swamped with work; maintaining constant contact with any recon teams, extracting those that were injured, and transporting supplies was hard work; harder work than Sun ever could have imagined, even. Even today, in spite of how little he did physically on the Bullhead, the chaos around him and the unpredictable nature of the missions made him break into sweat and become dehydrated; just as if he'd done hours upon hours of manual labor. He did notice that the twins seemed to react the same way, and this gave him an idea.

He ran over to a nearby cooler that was being used by the supply movers and grabbed three bottles of water. He calmly and briskly approached the Malachite sisters. "Hey," he greeted casually, his dry throat causing his voice to crack. "You two want some water?"

Militia seemed hesitant, but Melanie nodded immediately and gratefully accepted two of the bottles. She opened one for her sister first before opening her own, and both sisters happily drank. "Thank you, Sun," Melanie said.

He nodded, unable to speak due to having a mouthful of cold, crystal clear water. He inhaled deeply after swallowing. "Don't mention it," he finally answered. He motioned at the bench. "Room for one more?" Melanie scooted over some to bridge a small gap between herself and her sister, opening up a space for Sun to sit. "Thanks."

He seated himself, careful not to bump into the sisters. "You know, we haven't really talked since we first met, have we?"

Sun shook his head. "Too busy to stop and talk. The Bullhead team is nothing but work, work, work. Barely had enough free time to start learning how to fly the damn thing myself." Sun looked at the two sisters and flashed them a million lien smile. "Seems like now's a good time to catch up, eh?"

Militia bashfully returned the smile, but made no comment. Melanie nodded. "I don't see why not."

"Alright! I've got a question; why did you guys look like you were going to kill me when we first met?"

Melanie laughed. "We saw a faunus running towards us with no plausible reason. Mind you, we aren't like...some _other_ people out there who automatically assume that all faunus are criminals, but it's kind of hard to picture one as anything else when they're in a full sprint in our direction." She paused. "No offense."

This made Sun laugh. "None taken. I wasn't exactly a law abiding citizen before all of this anyway. I mean, I wasn't _Roman_, but I did steal food and money whenever I needed it. And I only ever took what I needed. I'm not greedy." He looked between the two sisters. "How about you? What was life like before the Grimm?" His eyes focused on Militia, expecting her to add to the conversation.

"Don't mind her," Melanie added. "She's just a little shy at first. She'll open up in a little while."

"Oh. Well, that's fine."

"Right. Now, about what we did before all of this..."

* * *

Ruby had returned to standing upon the rooftop after she had eaten. She had no real reason to be up there, but she felt that the gentle breeze felt nice this high up. She liked the view all around her, and the sound of her comrades working below. It gave her a sense of peacefulness in the midst of the nightmare that was closing in around them.

"Hey, Red," came the voice of Roman.

Ruby sighed, her mood almost ruined by that nickname. _Almost_. "That's not my name, Roman," she replied.

She turned to see Roman laugh. "You'll always be Red to me. Or would you rather have me start to call you 'Little Girl', or something else of that sort?" She was about to retaliate when Roman threw a box at her. "There. A present from me to you."

She caught the box and looked at it; packaged cookies. Ruby smiled. "When did you become so sweet?"

Roman would have denied it if Ruby had pointed it out, but he felt his face grow warm. "I figured it was the least I could do. So many people are alive right now thanks to your vision. I know I'm not usually one to really care about others, but without them I wouldn't survive either."

"That's almost a compliment when you say it, Roman." She dropped her smile and looked back down at the courtyard. "So, what happened out there today?"

Roman nodded. He knew that she was going to ask about earlier that day. "Team LNER completed their sweep and returned for extraction. JNPR was split up and were trying to regroup. Ren was attacked and chased by Grimm all the way back to the Bullhead. Nora tried to help him and needlessly put herself into harm's way; Ren could have been seriously hurt by doing what he did."

"What happened?" she asked again.

He hesitated. "Nora was reckless. She was wide open to be flayed by an Ursa. Ren blocked the Ursa with his weapons; one of them was completely destroyed."

Ruby nodded. "So, Ren is down to one gun. That's gonna put him at a disadvantage."

"I'm sure he can build another. We have the parts and the tools lying around now, after all." Roman sighed. "Why are you so worried about them? They all know what was going to happen, and they've changed accordingly to avoid that fate."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Ruby answered. "Now I don't know what's going to happen fully. There are bits here and there that I'm sure will stay somewhat similar to before, but there is now so much that I don't know because of the changes."

"Isn't that a good thing? I mean, I can see how it _wouldn't_ be good, but on the other hand, you've saved countless lives already. How many more were supposed to die before today?"

Ruby looked to the ground in though. "I...I don't know. I never counted."

"How many have died since Cardin?"

"None."

"Then that's a win in my book. And we're still winning." Roman smiled. "Lighten up, Red. We're gonna make it through this."

Ruby turned and met his gaze "What if things start to go back to the way they were supposed to be? What if everyone dies anyway?"

Roman's smile faded. "Remember how you asked if it was possible for us to be friends?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Here's my new answer to that question, Red; if things go south, and everyone that has been saved dies anyway, then I hope you're little prophecy about me surviving doesn't come true."

Ruby's eyes went wide. "W-what?"

"I...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've come to like some of these people. I've come to trust them. I've come to trust _you_. I would rather die than lose all of that."

Ruby began to tear up. Out of all of the people she knew, Roman was the _last_ person she ever expected to say something so profound. He sighed. "Come here," he said, almost irritated. Ruby, unsure, complied and approached him and was unexpectedly grabbed in a tight embrace; he was hugging her. "You breathe a word of this to anyone, and big sister will hear all about your underage tobacco habit. Got it, Red?"

Ruby laughed. "You practically forced me to smoke that cigar." She paused, trying to fight back her smile. "How many times do I have to tell you that my name isn't Red?"

"Remind me all you like," he teased. "I'm never gonna stop."

_What an irritating...friend_, she thought.

* * *

Yang, like Weiss, was helping in the courtyard for most of the day. While Weiss was taking care of the organizational duties, Yang was far more partial to partaking in the heavy lifting side of things. She may appear to be a delicate beauty to those who didn't know her, but she was just as strong as her fighting style implied.

It was now, after hours of exhausting manual labor, that she was finally able to take a break and sit down. She sighed loudly in contentment upon sitting down on the nearby bench. Weiss approached and sat down next to her team mate with a bottle of cold water in hand. She sipped from it and offered it to Yang. "Thanks, princess," Yang said gratefully, drinking happily from the water bottle.

Weiss smiled. "Anytime." She looked around. "I'm glad you were helping move the supplies. It would have been a nightmare otherwise."

"Aw, don't be like that. Everyone involved did a good job."

"Maybe, but you were the most efficient."

Yang shrugged. "I just wanted to get it done right, and get it done fast. I'd rather be maintaining Ember Celica right now. Haven't cleaned it since our last recon, and if I don't keep it clean it could jam on me."

Weiss nodded. "I agree, actually. If Myrtenaster isn't polished regularly, it could get covered in rust. That would compromise the integrity of the sword, and it'd likely break in half."

Howls erupted from the city of Vale, causing Weiss and Yang to look in the city's direction. "When's the next recon?"

Weiss pulled out her scroll. Ozpin had posted all of the current recon team listings where all of the students could access them via their scrolls. "Teams VLVT, HOLY, ARCR (Archer), and LNER are set to go into the city tomorrow morning to gauge the number of Grimm in the Industrial and Market districts."

"Is...is anyone going to recon the forest?"

"No one is scheduled to do so right now. We know that the majority of the Grimm have migrated to the city in search of food, so the forest must be relatively empty right now."

Yang turned her gaze to the Emerald Forest, her face masked with unease. "I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about it."

Weiss looked at her with confusion before following her gaze. "How so?"

"It's...it's like the calm before the storm, you know? Everything feels fine, but then the sky gets darker and you get that sinking feeling in your gut."

"You've got that sinking feeling?"

"Yeah," Yang answered quietly. "And I don't like it." _I...I have a terrible feeling about that forest_, she thought, repeating mentally what she had already told Weiss. "We need to know what's really in there."

Weiss continued to stare at the forest. "I...I think you may be right. I mean, I'm _sure_ that most of the Grimm have left it...but it can't be a bad idea to make sure."

Yang nodded. "If you see Ruby, tell her I went to see Ozpin." She stood up, returned Weiss's water to her half empty, and strolled towards the building that Ozpin made his office in.

* * *

Ozpin had tried to keep his appearance neat and clean these last few days, but the importance of maintaining the huntsmen and huntresses by reviewing all of their reports had become a much greater cause. He still kept clean, of course, but his five o'clock shadow was now very prominent, and his hair seemed somewhat unkempt; he'd been staying up late to finish whatever work he had.

He smiled. "We have enough supplies to fuel an army for over a year, and we have much less than an average army. It's almost time for humanity's first real counter attack." A knock came from his door. "Enter!" he called.

Yang entered. "Sorry for intruding, sir," she said politely.

"Not at all, Ms. Xiao Long. How may I help you?"

"Sir...I understand that I'm not the leader of my team, nor do I want to be the leader of team RWBY, but I have a request to make."

He arched an eyebrow in interest. "Oh?"

Yang nodded. "Most of us think that the Grimm have almost completely migrated to the City of Vale, and the forest has been silent as the grave for a while now. I...I don't like it."

Ozpin smiled. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who's been 'paranoid' about that. Grimm may be monsters, but they aren't stupid. They know that we're here, and they're seemingly abandoning their haven for the city...I never thought that it made any sense for all of them to have moved."

"I agree. I think we should recon the Emerald Forest and go as deep as we can to see if the Grimm have truly left the forest, or if some are hiding."

"And your request?" Ozpin inquired.

"I think team RWBY should do it. We're all quick, and we're all strong; Ruby especially so."

Ozpin sighed. He walked around his desk and placed a hand on Yang's shoulder. "You remember, right? Those were almost the same words that Cardin spoke to me the day he died. At least, it was the very same request he made."

Yang winced at the memory of Cardin. "I...I know, sir."

"Are you perhaps doing this not only for those of us who need to know what's out there, but also for Cardin's sake? Are you wanting to exact some form of revenge?"

"I..." Yang doubted her own ability to answer for a moment. "That's not my primary goal, professor...but if I can send as many of those monsters to hell as I can, then it'll be a bonus."

Ozpin felt impressed to an extent. "Send them to hell?" he asked.

Yang nodded. "After all, my semblance is fire. I'm the only one who truly knows what it means to burn! That makes me the perfect escort for those monsters. With my guidance, they'll find the gates of hell in no time at all." She felt her aura flare and the room grow warmer. She took a deep breath to calm herself. "But as I said, that's not my primary goal. My first thoughts go to our fellow teams, teachers, and such. We need to know what's out there."

Ozpin smiled. He picked up a scroll and tapped away at it. "Do apologize to Ruby for volunteering your team in her stead. Team RWBY is scheduled to recon the Emerald Forest the day after tomorrow. Be ready, Ms. Xiao Long."

"Yes, sir!" She thanked him and left, prepared to tell the news to her sister and her friends. Yang felt that things were about to get more interesting; for better or for worse, and she didn't know which.

* * *

_Songs: Remnant__s_ and _Asylum - Disturbed_

**Author's Notes**

Oh man! Oh man, oh man, oh MAN! I am getting closer and closer to one of the chapters that I've been oh so looking forward to writing! It won't be the next chapter, but it should be the one after it. There are so many things that I want to tell you guys! Oh, you have NO idea how badly I wish I could just _tell_ you how this story will flow from here. Alas, I must abide by the rules of literature, and make you wait to read it yourself.

In regards to this chapter, it's more filler; I wish I could make each chapter an action packed plot developer, but we've got to have some breathing space in between those moments. Like a fine wine, we've got to let it breath from time to time, you know?

Also, I apologize for taking so long with writing this one. I would have finished days ago, but like I said in the previous chapter, I'm no longer unemployed and I'm working for my town's Street Department again. Speaking of which, it's time for another...

Fun Fact: It never stopped raining in my town today! I spent all day unclogging storm drains with a shovel while the sky pissed on me. I was soaking wet by the time I got home...and yet, I love my job.

Till next time!


	8. Chapter 7: We're In This Together

Chapter 7: We're In This Together

While Yang was returning to her dorm to tell the remainder of her team the news, Ruby received a message from Ozpin through her scroll, urging her to see him immediately. She had been talking and joking with Torchwick for the better part of a half hour, and now she parted ways with him to see her superior. She had seen Ozpin on a regular basis lately during team leader meetings, and she noticed that he was becoming fatigued. She hoped that he may have returned to taking better care of himself and that he wasn't overworking himself like he was wont to do.

She made her way to his office and knocked. "Come in," came his calm, nerve calming voice. Ruby entered and was somewhat saddened to see that his hair was still unkempt and that his stubble hadn't been shave. She had to admit silently, however, that if he cleaned up his hair and maintained the scruffy look he'd be more handsome than he was before. She paused on that thought and silently locked it away, feeling somewhat strange having thought such a thing about her former instructor. "Hello, Ms. Rose. It's nice to see you again."

She nodded. "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes. Would you please have a seat? I have something I would like to discuss with you." She nodded again and did as she was told. "Did you run into your sister on your way here?"

"No. Why?"

"Good. I wanted to tell you before she did; she made a request involving your team's assignment, and I approved it. I do apologize for not coming to you, as the leader of team RWBY, but I felt that the end result would have been the same."

Ruby was confused. "What did she ask for?"

"She suggested that team RWBY be sent on a recon mission to the Emerald Forest to investigate the possibility that the Grimm may still have a hideaway within the forest."

Ruby felt her chest tighten. _Didn't this happen before? In the dream?_ "What's today's date?" Ozpin handed her a small pocket sized calendar and pointed at the date. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. _That particular event didn't happen for another four months._ "Thank you." She returned the calander.

Ozpin took it, but raised an eyebrow. "This mission lines up with your premonition, I presume?"

"No, thankfully. What I thought this was doesn't happen for a while yet. There's still time to avoid it."

"Good," Ozpin answered. "I wanted to know if you already knew about this mission, and if you knew the outcome. Do you?"

She shook her head. "No. We never bothered to check the Emerald Forest after they moved to Vale. We did return eventually, but only after we saw them migrating back."

"I see. Did you ever find out why they returned?" She shook her head again, keeping the mission's outcome to herself.

_There's plenty of time between now and then. I can still save her._ Ruby silently prayed that she would have the strength to change the outcome. "When do we leave for this recon mission?"

"The day after tomorrow." Ozpin looked over to a nearby shelf; the clock he fixed in Ruby's presence ticked away. "It is getting late, Ms. Rose. I do hope you aren't too upset at your sister. Ms. Xiao Long was only doing what she thought was for the best."

"Not at all. I'm not all that upset," she smiled. "I _would_ have liked it if she had consulted me first, but we'll be ready. What should we do tomorrow?"

"Rest," he answered. "With or without Grimm, the Emerald Forest is very big, and very tiresome. I'd hate to see your team go in at anything less than full strength." Ruby nodded and stood to leave. "One more thing, Ms. Rose."

"Hm?"

He looked at her grimly. "Your sister is very strong, both of mind and body, but even she has her faults. Her heart is in the right place, but don't let her do anything too reckless. We need all of you to come back to us unharmed."

She nodded quietly, choosing not to verbally respond, before turning on her heel and leaving Ozpin's office.

* * *

"You think Ruby's gonna be mad at me?" Yang asked somewhat sadly. The walk to her dorm made her think back on her decision to ask Ozpin for a recon mission, and she realized partway back that she didn't have the right to make such a decision without her leader's approval. That very same leader is her little sister, whom she cherished more than anything else in the world, and she didn't want to receive her wrath. Not because Ruby was terribly frightening or anything when angered, but it would be emotionally damaging to Yang to have her little sister be well and truly angry.

"Yang, this is _Ruby_ we're talking about. She doesn't get that angry at anybody," Blake reasoned.

"Yeah," Weiss agreed before she paused in thought. "Except for the time that she got mad at me and cut a tree down with Crescent Rose." The two other girls slowly turned to face Weiss.

"W-what did you do to make her do that?" Yang asked, surprised.

"It was around the time when we first met." 'Oh' and 'That makes sense' came from Blake and Yang simultaneously. Weiss blushed. "I suppose I was a _little_ unreasonable at the time."

"A little?" Blake teased.

"Watch it, cat lady."

"Hey! No fighting! We're supposed to be worried about me over here, not whether or not the princess was a raging bitch when we first met her!" Yang interrupted.

"A raging _what_? I'll have you know that...that I choose to ignore that statement and refuse to comment." Weiss pouted in a way, causing Blake to silently chuckle. "In all seriousness," the heiress added. "You shouldn't worry. Ruby will forgive you instantly, I'm sure." The door slowly opened. "Ah, and here we shall see what happens."

Ruby stepped into the room. "Hey girls," she greeted casually. She looked over to Yang and gave her an exaggerated pouting face. "If you want to go on a mission, would it really be such a bad thing if you ask me for permission first?" Yang was about to apologize for her actions, but Ruby silenced her with a smile. "Our orders are to rest up tomorrow and leave out the day after! I expect nothing but the best from team RWBY! Understood?"

Weiss smiled and crossed her arms, standing proudly. "But of course."

Blake gave a light smile and nodded slightly. "Understood," she said.

Yang gave a sigh of relief; her sister wasn't angry with her in the slightest, and that made her happy. "Understood," she replied.

"Alright! Everybody to bed! If we're going to be resting tomorrow, then I want a head start on it tonight!"

* * *

The city echoed with howls as night blanketed Vale in its fluid shadow, allowing the horrors within to seemingly cast shadows upon darkness itself. Beacon, less than five miles away from the city, sat on its cliff side precipice in pseudo peace, the instructors and former students keeping watch or resting as they waited for their darkest fears to either pass on without a trace, or to find them at their weakest moments. The guests of Beacon, neither instructor nor student, rested in relative calmness throughout the night, ignoring the sound of death and damnation that was seemingly upon their doorstep.

Except for Roman.

Once more laying upon his couch within his makeshift room, he stared at the dark ceiling above him. Hat and coat resting upon the nearby rack, shoes laying haphazardly in the floor, and his cane leaning against the wall were his only companions as his mind wandered into places he'd rather it stayed away from. _What if? _he kept thinking. What if the Grimm attacked now? What if nothing happened? What if this had never occurred? What if he didn't believe Ruby? What if he'd been fast enough to save Cardin before he bled to death? What if? What if? What if?

Different variations using the same question haunted him, and he didn't understand why. He had high hopes for the coming months. He already congratulated Ruby for saving so many lives, which he believed shifted the difference between success and failure for all of them. Even if the percentage of coming out on top was below One-Percent, but still above Zero, then he would have hope. That's just how much of a change he believed Ruby's premonition caused.

And yet, his very soul was riddled with doubts, fears, and constant worry. He looked over to the clock that hung on the wall; just after midnight. He sighed. "I'll never get any fucking sleep at this rate." He stood and donned his shoes and coat; he didn't need his hat for a walk. He grabbed his cane just to be safe, and left his room.

Beacon's campus, he realized, looked completely different once the sun set. What looked like a safe, pleasant school environment in the light of day, looked like a scene from the most frightening horror movie in the cover of night. The moon in the sky was shattering in its regular cycle as it should have been, and the weather felt normal for this time of year, but the lingering darkness accompanied by the howls of the Grimm made the already deep pit in Roman's stomach fall even deeper.

His gaze shifted to the general direction of the City of Vale, staring into the blackness of night. He breathed deeply, trying to calm his nerves. "What am I so fucking worried about?"

* * *

Morning came too soon for some, and not soon enough for others. Militia Malachite, the younger of the twins, ate her breakfast silently and alone. Her sister, Melanie, wasn't a morning person like she was, and as such was still sleeping in their shared room. Militia didn't mind, really. Every waking second the sister's experienced was spent together, so breakfast was one of the few moments where they were separate for any period of time. Such is the life of inseparable twins.

These rare moments were fascinating to Militia. It gave her some time to herself to think and ponder. Often she would wonder about what her twin might be thinking in those same moments, or how the two could be so different even though they were born at the same time and look the exact same. She would think about where she would be in life were it not for her older sister taking charge all the time, or about what kind of job she would have if Junior hadn't hired them to be bouncers. With her timid nature, she wondered what kind of occupation would suit her best. Maybe she could run a bookstore? Or maybe work from home somehow? Her body used muscle memory to eat her breakfast since her mind was miles and miles away.

She was startled, of course, when Sun quickly and loudly sat himself in front of her with a tray of food. "Good morning," he greeted, followed by a quick apology. "I, uh, didn't mean to scare you."

Militia, being shy as she was, couldn't meet Sun's eyes as she replied. "No, it's alright. I was spacing out." She blushed slightly from embarrassment. "W-what are you doing up at this hour?"

Sun shrugged. "Didn't sleep as much as I would have liked to. Once I wake up I can't get back to sleep, so I figured I might as well get breakfast." He peeled a banana and took a bite. "What about you?"

"I'm always up at this time. Melanie likes to sleep in, though. We seldom spend out mornings together."

Sun nodded. "So, how is the younger of the bouncer twins doing this morning?"

She blushed. "I only agreed to take that job because of Melanie, you know." Melanie explained to Sun yesterday what their lives were like before the comet had arrived. Sun seemed impressed at their profession. "You probably wouldn't like it very much."

"Well, I'm sure _I _would like it well enough. Good pay, free drinks, the opportunities to kick someone's ass every now and again. As a girl, I probably would hate it. Thank God for the Y-Chromosome, I guess." He laughed.

Militia gave a small, shy smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't really care for it, though. Drunk customers can get a little...touchy, I suppose is a nice way to put it."

"I'd imagine that your sister wasn't very keen on that."

"No. That made the job easier to deal with. Anytime someone would...well, make physical contact with me, Melanie usually booted them from the club. In more extreme cases, that would be literal." Sun laughed heartily, drawing forth another smile from Militia. After a few seconds, she had to laugh too.

Sun inhaled, trying to catch his breath, and took a sip of his morning tea. "This is nice," he commented.

Militia calmed down as well, tilting her head to the side with her precious smile still adorning her face. "What is?"

"_This_," Sun repeated, motioning to himself and Militia. "Being able to tell stories and laugh. Not pretending to be happy, but _actually_ smiling and laughing from the heart. It's nice."

She nodded. "Yeah, I suppose it is." She glanced over to the nearest window and saw the faint, black glow of the comet come from just out of view. "How much darker is the world going to get before the light comes back?"

Sun sighed. "I dunno. But what I do know is that we're all in this together. Nothing can stop us." A beep escaped from his and Militia's pockets; their scrolls that Ozpin had given them. Both pulled them out to see what it was.

"Looks like the recon list has been updated," Militia stated.

Sun read it. "Tomorrow...team RWBY is going into the Emerald Forest?" His stomach felt odd, and he lost his appetite. "Why...do I not like the sound of that?"

* * *

The day seemed to be passing slowly for some. For Yang, every second felt like an eternity. When all of team RWBY had awakened, the four of them went and ate breakfast. They were joined by Sun and Militia, who had just finished eating and had found out about their recon mission that was to take place the next day. After they parted ways, Weiss and Ruby left together to polish and clean their weapons. Blake offered to go stay with Yang, but the blonde politely refused, saying that she wanted to be alone for a little bit. Blake said that she understood, and promptly departed to attend business of her own.

A few hours later, and Yang still stood where she had went to after she parted ways with her team; she was standing before Cardin's grave. Cardin was cremated, but they still felt the need to erect a tombstone of sorts. A small stone slab was placed on the precipice above the Emerald Forest, just beyond the defensive wall. It wasn't far enough away to be a dangerous spot, as the wall was directly behind Yang and still well within view; should any Grimm attack here, she would fight them off successfully for a minute or two before backup arrived.

A gentle breeze rolled up the cliff face, making Yang's hair sway softly in its soft tendrils. The stone slab before her was simple, yet elegant. The words written upon it, however, were a constant reminder to her that some no one should try to play to role of God.

**Cardin Winchester**

_**Honor bound, the Promise is sacred.**_

Yang didn't know who wrote Cardin's epitaph, but she felt that it was fitting. She felt a smile spread as she read it once more. It was a gentle, sad smile; one filled with pain, sorrow, and regret, as well as faith, hope, and determination to set thing right. "Oh," came a small voice from behind. Yang turned to see Velvet holding a single, red rose. "I didn't expect to see you, Yang," she said with a smile.

Yang nodded as the rabbit faunus approached and laid the rose down before the memorial. She knelt before the stone and clasped her hands together as she held her head low; Yang realized that she was praying. Yang chose to respectfully remain silent while the girl prayed, watching over her with mild curiosity and care. "How long have you been here?" Velvet asked suddenly.

Yang was about to answer, only to find that she didn't actually know. She pulled out her scroll and gazed at the time listed and was shocked; it was noon. She had been standing in front of Cardin's grave for four hours. She laughed weakly. "I didn't realize I'd been here for that long."

Velvet stood and faced Yang with concern. "That's not like you to stand still for too long."

Yang's smile faltered before she dropped it altogether. "I guess...I just feel sort of responsible. I know the alternative was for you to...well, I guess there are some things you just can't win at."

The faunus nodded. "I also feel responsible. I could have saved him had he given me the opportunity I needed. I am grateful that he saved me, and that you told him that I would die, because now I'm alive. Events changed."

"Not by much though," Yang pointed out sadly. "Someone still died."

"But maybe his sacrifice will help change things for the better."

Yang shook her head. "Ruby told me that he still would have died. One year from now, he would have died in a massive battle. The same battle that Ruby and Blake are supposed to die in."

"What about you? Are you supposed to die?" Velvet asked.

"Ruby said that most of us died. Very few survive." She looked into Velvet's eyes. "I sincerely hope that we can prevent that."

Velvet smiled. "I'm sure we have. Cardin was supposed to die in a year, you said? Well, he died early to save my life. What if that set a change in motion that would alter the outcome of this mess?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if I survive long enough to participate in that battle? What if I am one piece on the board that was meant to be gone, but remained and thus helped to turn the tides around?"

Yang smiled. "I suppose that's the best we can hope for."

"I'm _sure_ that enough has changed at this point. Cardin's death won't be for nothing, Yang. I can feel it!"

The blonde felt a single tear roll down her cheek before she quickly wiped it away. "Oh, come here, you!" She grabbed Velvet and gave her a tight hug.

"Gah!" Velvet squealed. "Ms. Yang! I can't breathe!"

Yang let go and stepped back a little bit. "I'm sorry, but those were the words I needed to hear right now. Thank you, Velvet."

Velvet smiled. "Anytime, Ms. Yang."

The blonde turned to the stone. "And thank you, Cardin. I'll make sure that your death means something. We'll stop this calamity! I promise! Just you wait and see!" She turned and began to make her way back to the heart of Beacon, her stride full of power and confidence.

Velvet smiled. "Look at what you've created, Cardin. In the wake of your fall, a phoenix has risen from the ashes that burned you." She knelt down once more, and recited the words that she had hand carved herself. "Honor bound, the Promise is sacred." As she echoed those words, however, a strong gust of wind picked up the rose that she had placed on the stone and carried it over the cliff, red petals scattering. Something about the sight made her feel sad, and she felt a pit form in her gut.

* * *

The next day, team RWBY had gathered at the top of the cliff; the same place where their initiation had started. "It feels different," Weiss pointed out as she looked over the massive forest from on high.

"It has been different," Ruby stated, shifting her gaze to the comet above. "Ever since the day the world went away." She sighed, unsure of what to expect from the forest before her. "Ready girls?"

Her three team mates gave an affirmative, and the four of the dove off of the cliff. Weiss used her glyphs to gently set all of them down, not wanting to let the others use gunfire like they had before; stealth was their only ally in this forest, and they needed to keep it close. Yang immediately deployed Ember Celica, ready to fight at a moment's notice without any delay. "Let's head out," Ruby whispered, and the four of them began their hike through the woods, praying silently that the Grimm were all in the City of Vale.

Ruby remembered from her premonition that there were Grimm hiding within the forest, but that was long ahead from the now that they were in. Four months away from now, to be specific. It was entirely possible that the Grimm had been hiding here the whole time, or maybe they had all left, and then a few had returned to help bolster their ranks. That was a possibility, because Ruby also remembered that it wasn't long after their failed Emerald Forest mission that Beacon would come under attack, and others would die in that battle. Far too many would die.

Including Ozpin.

She shook her head to get the image out of her head. There was plenty of time before then. There was time enough to plan properly for the invasion, and time enough to save even more lives. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about the "what ifs" and the "what could be" moments that haven't happened yet.

The comet had come, as Ruby had foreseen, and brought hell with it. She hoped it had been a nightmare, but the howls that erupted from the forests that lasted for weeks reminded her that it was reality. The darkness was real, and she had to have hope that she could bring forth a light strong enough to send the shadows away. Then, and only then, would the nightmares be replaced by sweet dreams once more.

Blake, who had been given point due to her heightened faunus senses, froze and raised her hand; the signal for them to stop in their tracks. She had heard something. She motioned up to the tree tops, silently telling her team that it would be best to climb up and look down from here on. Team RWBY did just that, and they proceeded slowly until Blake told them to stop once more.

The non-faunus members of team RWBY held their breath as they focused all of their attention to their ears, waiting and listening for any sound to be heard from the woods around them. _Snarl, snap, growl._ There were Grimm about. They moved up, expecting to see a handful of Beowolves or Ursi. Ruby had to keep from gasping loudly, Weiss's eyes went wide, Blake's jaw dropped and her ears flattened in fear, and Yang was unable to process what they were looking at.

Before them was a clearing that seemed to be about a mile around, and every inch of it was covered in dark, monstrous creatures. Their red eyes scanning everything around them, looking for some sort of flesh to feast upon.

"How can there be this many Grimm hiding so silently in plain site?" Blake whispered in confusion.

Weiss shook her head. "It shouldn't be possible. Twice this many Grimm have been spotted in Vale."

"And half of that is standing in front of us," Blake quipped. "That being said, I still can't count them all." The ground shook as another Grimm entered from the far side of the clearing. Three of them had never seen anything like it before. It was the biggest Grimm had ever seen, and no record of its existence was written anywear. It's four paws were bigger than the largest Ursa, and each of its three heads was the size of a Bullhead. "W-what the hell is that?" Blake asked, suddenly much more frightened than she had been before.

"No..." Ruby said quietly. "It's too soon."

Weiss barely heard her leader's whisper. "What is that thing, Ruby? Did you see it in your premonition?"

Ruby nodded. _Cerberus! _she thought. "We need to go. Now."

"You know," Yang said. "For once, I'm not gonna argue that point. Running away sounds like a viable solution right about now." The four girls turned to leave, and at that moment a the tree branch that Yang stood upon snapped and fell. Yang managed to catch herself and land on another branch, but the damage was done. The small noises that the Grimm were making became silent as the grave upon hearing the new, alien sound. "Shit," the blonde whispered.

Then came the howling, growling, snarling, and snapping of jaws, followed shortly by the sound of feet pounding the ground in a sprint. "Run!" Weiss screamed.

Team RWBY leapt, sprinted, and dodged as they began their escape. All the while, the Cerberus looked in their direction, not caring to move at all. It seemed almost as though it was content to let the lesser Grimm do the hard work. A layman, in fact, would have sworn that the beast was smiling. A deep, monstrous sound could be heard coming from deep within its body. One would almost say that it was a laugh.

* * *

_We're In This Together - Nine Inch Nails_

**Author's Note **

Cliffhangers! Do you hate me yet? I hope not, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised. I would like to point out that I don't just sit down and say "Hey, I'll write _this_!" I actually go through a lot of processing and consideration before I make any major decisions with this story. In fact, this is as much of a roller coaster for myself as it is for you guys. I actually had something happen to me during the writing of this chapter that I can't tell you about yet. TT_TT If I remember to add it, I'll tell you about it in the NEXT Author's Note.

Why the next one? Because the next chapter is a critical piece of the story that I've had planned for a very, VERY long time. I'm excited to finally get around to it, while at the same time I'm worried. I don't want to fuck it up.

So, I was reading my outline for this story, and I realized that I have alot of chapter's potentially planned out that are named after Nine Inch Nails songs...damn you Trent Reznor for making such amazing music.

Also, I apologize for taking so long on this chapter. I'm working again, as I've said, so I don't get a whole lot of free time. In fact, I've only written on this chapter for about two days this week, today being most of it. I spent 3 days at work pouring concrete, which is hella exhausting. I'd come home and immediately pass out. I still haven't mowed my grass because of it. I should do that tomorrow if it doesn't rain...but I also need to write the next chapter.

What is the next chapter? Well, I've been planning it for so long that I'm tempted to tell you what it will be called...but, I shall not. It won't take me too long to write it, in theory. At the risk of making a liar of myself, I'll say that you should see it in a few days.

Till next time! (Really don't want to be lynched!)


	9. Chapter 8: What It Is To Burn

Chapter 8: What It Is To Burn

Absolute dread filled the members of team RWBY as they ran as fast as they could. Blake held Gambol Shroud in its pistol form and fired behind her, killing as many Grimm as she possibly could in her rush. However, the beasts were relentless in their chase, and for every Grimm she felled another took its place. "We're in a tight spot, guys!" Blake called from the rear.

"Just keep running!" Yang yelled back. "We'll make it back to the cliff shortly."

"Just how exactly do we plan on climbing back up with all of those things chasing us?"

"I don't fucking know, just run!"

"Maybe we should stop and kill a few of them. Try to slow them down?" Weiss added, panting all the while. Of the four girls, Weiss had the least amount of stamina when it came to sprinting.

"No!" Ruby exclaimed. "We can't stop! Cerberus is here!"

"Cerberus?"

"You mean the giant three headed Grimm?" Blake asked.

"He's the worst monster out of all of them! By himself, he will be responsible for most of our casualties!"

"Why are we just now hearing about him?" Weiss asked.

"Because I thought we had time! He's four months too early!"

"Four months? How?" Yang asked.

"I...I don't know, okay! I've predicted as much as I can, but at this point everything is completely different. I don't know what to expect anymore!" Ruby was frantic. Just as she had just explained, she didn't know what to expect anymore. She was confused and somewhat disoriented by what was happening. This should not be happening.

"Girls!" Blake called. "We need to call Roman! There's no way we're getting out of here alive without a Bullhead drop!"

"Agreed!" Weiss stated, switching her mission microphone to be on Roman's channel.

* * *

Roman felt sick at his stomach. It wasn't a stomach virus, or food poisoning. No, it was the feeling you get when something had just gone wrong, but he couldn't figure out what it could possibly be. He knew that team RWBY had set out earlier that morning on a recon mission, and so he and the rest of SMMR were on standby inside Roman's prized Bullhead. Sun was pacing impatiently in the cargo hold behind the cockpit. Roman grabbed a nearby pocket sized notepad and hurled it at the faunus boy. "Will you cut that out! You're getting on my nerves!"

Sun dodged the small pad of paper and gave Roman a sheepish look. "Sorry. I'm just...worried, I guess."

The thief sighed. "That makes two of us."

"Don't worry, Sun," Militia said, approaching him and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. This elicited a curious look from Melanie. "I'm sure our friends are just fine."

"Yeah," Roman said. "They'll come back without our help, tell us everything's okay, and then I'll tell Red that she might not have looked hard enough, which will force her to tell me that her name isn't Red, which will..." A crackling sound came over the Bullhead's speakers; someone was trying to contact him.

"Roman!" came the voice of the heiress, Weiss.

Roman grabbed the dashboard microphone. "Good afternoon, Princess," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"No time! We need an extraction in the Emerald Forest immediatly!"

Roman's eyes narrowed. "Roger. Tracking your scrolls now...we'll be on our way shortly." The Bullhead was already running, just in case, so he buckled in and began to make the aircraft climb. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Grimm! Hundreds of them! And something else!"

"Something else? What kind of something?"

A brief pause filled the void of conversation. "Some new monster. Ruby called it Cerberus."

_Cerberus?_ Roman thought. He recognized the name. Really, anyone should. It was a name found in a piece of classic literature, and deep seated in legend. Roman was a classy man, he liked to think, and would often kill time by reading classic literature. So, when it came to Cerberus, only one thing stuck in his mind:

_Cerberus, a monster fierce and strange, with three throats, barks dog-like over those that are immersed in it. _

_His eyes are red, his beard greasy and black, his belly wide, and clawed his hands, he clutches the spirits, flays, and piecemeal rends them._

_-Canto VI, Dante's Inferno_

If the real Cerberus was anything like what Dante described in his epic, which Roman had read before, then fear was the proper emotion to be experienced at this moment in time. Roman, not one to miss an opportunity of any kind, felt the pit in his stomach drop even lower. One of Hell's guardians, the master of the realm of Gluttony, was just beyond Roman's doorstep. Roman wasn't too thrilled to meet him, either. "We need to hurry," Roman whispered at last, forcing the Bullhead to speed along even faster.

* * *

A lone Beowolf had snuck past the prey. It had abandoned its pack at the command of the master, whom told it to ambush the four feasts that attempted to escape from their clutches. It wasn't far ahead of them, but it wasn't worried about that. After all, they were the ones being chased, not it. It tried its hardest to suppress its primal instinct to growl, snarl, howl, and bay at the oncoming enemy; it didn't want to gain their attention too soon.

Here they came, into its view. The front most one was in all white with white hair; the master told the Beowolf to ignore that one. The next was wearing black with a red cloak. _Feast! _ the master commanded. The Beowolf couldn't reply back, nor did it feel the need to do so. The Beowolf was just a monster, with no true desires of its own except for the need to feed. The order to feast upon the red one was all the information it needed to make its move.

"Roman's on his way!" the White said to the other three.

"Good!" answered the Black, who was in the far end of the Pack-of-Four.

"We need to move faster!" the Red stated. The Beowolf stared hungrily at her, ready to make its move. They were getting closer and closer, and they were too distracted by the Beowolf's pack behind them to notice it in front of them. Closer. Closer. _Closer._

The Beowolf leapt from the shadows, hurdling its body towards the Red one as quickly as possible. Fangs exposed, claws at the ready, it swiped at her right side, attempted to flay the flesh from her bones.

"Ruby! Look out!" called the Yellow one in the middle, just behind the Red. She shoved the Red out of the way, but not as well as she'd hoped. The Beowolf's claws managed to tear into the flesh of her right arm, eliciting a cry of pain. It landed with a loud thud, upset that it had failed to kill its prey, but pleased to have slowed them down for its brethren to finish off.

The four girls stopped and turned on the lone Beowolf, and the Yellow charged at it. "You bastard!" she screamed, her eyes turning red. An instant later, the Beowolf felt nothing below the neck. It saw the ground approaching and felt confused. It rolled it's eyes to look up after it hit the ground, and saw its own body standing headless before it fell limp to the ground. Darkness slowly consumed it's vision as it attempted to howl, but no sound escaped.

* * *

The four of them found a relatively flat treetop that was safe away from the Grimm, 'safe' being a term up for debate at the moment. Ruby had a nasty looking gash on her right arm from where the Beowolf had caught her off guard. "You okay, sis?" Yang asked, voice full of sisterly concern for Ruby's wellbeing.

Ruby poked at the wound gently, causing her to wince and hold back a pained moan. "It should be fine," she said. "I've had worse."

"Not much worse," Yang pointed out. "Here, let me fix that up for you." She quickly and easily removed the orange scarf from around her neck and began to tie it around Ruby's gash. She was as gentle as possible in making the scarf be as tight as it could be to protect the open wound. "You know, I take it back," she said when she finished, admiring her handywork. "This isn't so bad." She flashed her sister a charming smile. "It'll heal up in no time. You're a tough cookie, sis. It'll take more than this to put you down."

Ruby felt as though she was going to go into shock. Those words...those were the same words that Yang had said to her in her premonition. She looked over at the scarf, watching as a small spot of blood leaked through the fabric, and felt horrified. "No, Yang. No! No, no, no, no!" she cried.

"Sis, what is it? What's wrong?" Ruby met her sister's gaze, but she slowly drifted back to the scarf and stared at it sadly. Yang understood at this point what Ruby was so upset about. "Is...is it today, Ruby?" she asked. "Is today the day that I...?"

"Don't!" Ruby commanded. "Don't you dare finish that question, Yang." Tears filled her eyes. "I'm going to save you this time. Cerberus and the other Grimm can be damned to Hell all they want, but they aren't dragging you with them. Not this time!"

"I hate to interrupt," Weiss stated. "But we seem to be overstaying our welcome up here! More Grimm are coming."

"Right," Yang agreed. "Let's go, sis. We have a school to warn, don't we?"

Ruby nodded, determined to see to it that everyone made it back home. Overhead, the engines of a Bullhead could be heard. "SMMR to RWBY," Roman's voice cracked over the communication system. "I see you on my screen, but I can't get you there. Too many trees. There's a clearing north of your position that's currently free of Grimm. Care to take a little hike for me?"

"We'll be there, Roman!" Ruby answered.

"Glad to hear you're okay, Red. Don't keep me waiting!" The engines faded slightly, but they could still be heard in the distance.

"Let's go!" Ruby ordered, and the four of them leapt down and began running north.

After a few moments, it became clear that this would prove difficult. Blake's superior hearing detected dozens upon dozens of Grimm were starting to catch up and surround them. They had waited in the treetop for too long, it would seem.

* * *

Roman set the Bullhead on the ground, and the other members of team SMMR set out to stand guard against any possible Grimm threats. "Hey, Roman," Sun called from just outside. "What's a Cerberus?"

Roman deeply inhaled from his cigar. "Literally, I haven't a clue. I've never seen a real Cerberus before. It's supposed to be a fictitious and mythological creature from the belief system of a long dead civilization. Centuries later, a poet wrote an epic depicting the stages of the afterlife, and in the first part, the _Inferno_, he describes a great three headed beast who reigns over the realm of Gluttony, one of the circles of Hell." Inhaled again. "It was described as monstrous beast with an unending appetite. It devoured the sinners who committed the sin of Gluttony, and they were damned to an eternity within its belly."

Sun gulped. "And...that thing is real?"

Roman shrugged. "I don't know, Sun. But Ruby named this new Grimm 'Cerberus' for a reason. Anything with that sort of name worries me. I don't want to say this out loud...but I truly expect the worst."

A loud, howling roar erupted from within the forest. The sound was like nothing any of them had ever heard, and it forced Roman to quickly turn his head in the direction of the source; he could see nothing, which worried him even more than if he could see something. "Be on the look out!" he exclaimed. "Team RWBY should be coming from that direction." It was south. Sun, Melanie, and Militia readied their weapons, unsure of what to expect.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Yang asked, taking the risk of looking back; she saw nothing, but continued to hear to roar. To her, it sounded like the howls of Hell, yet it seemed to be coming from a single beast. "Was that Cerberus?"

"Don't think!" Ruby yelled. "Keep running. We can deal with them later!"

"Ruby," Blake called. "We're not gonna make it! We're already surrounded."

"What!?" Weiss and Yang both exclaimed.

"They're keeping their distance, but there is no escape for us; they've got us surrounded from the east, south, and the west. We can keep going north as we're supposed to, but they're most likely going to cut us off before we make it to the Bullhead."

Yang looked around in all directions, at first continuing to see nothing. But then, just barely, she noticed the bright, glowing red eyes of the various Grimm that had them surrounded. It was just as Blake had said. She looked forward to her team mates. She stared intently at each of them from the rear, gauging up their chances for survival.

Weiss was strong and intelligent, but she lacked the level of stamina a fight of this magnitude would require. She would be dead within a matter of minutes. Blake was clever and agile. She could avoid any major damage for a long while, but even she would have to reach her limit eventually. Outnumbered as they were, she would tire out and die as well. Ruby was fast and strong, but her speed was far greater than her muscle. Her best bet was to keep running, but if any of them stopped to fight she would too. Thus, her fate would be sealed and she would die alongside her friends.

Yang, however...Yang wasn't as fast as Ruby, wasn't as smart as Weiss, nor was she as clever as Blake. But she was the strongest. She had the highest level of stamina, her punches without her aura, semblance, or gauntlets could shatter a full grown man's ribs in an instant. The weapons and fire that she always had would greatly multiply her damage output. She could destroy more Grimm singlehandedly that any other member of team RWBY. Yang remembered what Ruby had told her the night of the premonition, back when they thought it was all a nightmare.

_"Ruby, your reaction to seeing us...what happened?" Weiss asked, ignoring Blake and Yang._

_ Ruby began to tear up again. "You...you all died. Yang died protecting the three of us, Weiss died to help me and Blake escape, and Blake..." she paused and turned to face the cat faunus. "I'm so sorry, Blake." Ruby began to cry again._

Yang knew what she had to do. Why she had died in Ruby's premonition. _I have to stay behind,_ she thought. "I have to stay behind!" she yelled loud enough for the others to hear. She grinded her feet to a halt and deployed Ember Celica, prepared to fight off the Grimm.

Ruby and the others paused in their escape and saw Yang standing, battle ready with a look of determination on her face. "Yang?" Ruby asked softly. "Yang, don't do this! We can escape together this time! You don't have to stay behind like you did before!"

"She's right, Yang," Weiss added. "We know how this is going to end if you stay behind. We won't sit by and let that happen!"

"You don't understand," Yang said. "This was always going to happen. There is no escape. Blake already said as much. One of us has to stay behind and distract the Grimm long enough for the others to escape. I've already figured it out in my head; I'm the only real option."

"Yang," Blake said quietly. "I...I don't want to lose my partner." She paused. "My closest friend."

Yang put a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Hey now, kitten," she whispered, adding her pet name for Blake. "You know that this has to be done." Blake wanted to argue, but she couldn't form a rational argument. She knew that Yang was right.

"Sis, please!" Ruby pleaded, tears streaming down her face. "Don't leave me again! Don't! Just don't!"

"Sis, I..." Ruby slapped Yang.

"No! You listen to me, Yang! I'm not just you're little sister! I'm also your leader! Your commander! I order you to escape with us! You're no good to anyone dead, Yang! You...you can't protect your family if you're gone!" Her tears came stronger and stronger.

Yang was going to argue against her sister, but another idea came to mind. An idea that made her sick at her stomach and went against everything she'd ever known and done...but she had to do it. "You're right sis. I'm sorry." She pulled her sister into an embrace. "I'm so sorry," she said again.

"Y-Yang?" Ruby asked. In that moment, Yang did something she'd never once done in her life; she punched her sister as hard as she could in the stomach. Ruby made a gross regurgitating sound as the impact forced her to puke and cough trace amounts of blood before passing out half a second later.

Yang caught her body before it hit the ground and shoved into Weiss's arms. "Get to Roman and go home," she ordered, her eyes full of tears." She turned away so that Weiss and Blake wouldn't see her cry; she didn't want their last memory of her to be of tears and sadness, but of bravery and sacrifice. "Weiss."

Weiss choked up at the sight of the older sister. "Y-yes, Yang?"

"Remember that promise you made to Ruby? To be the best team mate you can be?"

Weiss nodded. "Of course," she answered, her voice cracking as she fought back tears.

"I need you to do more than that now. I need you to be there for her when I can't be. Be the shoulder for her to cry on, and the friend that she celebrates with. Be a sister for her to love. Be...be the best _you_ that you can be, Weiss. For both me, and my sister."

"I...I promise, Yang."

Yang nodded. Her voice cracked from her crying as she said one final thing to Weiss. "Take care of her."

Weiss and Blake nodded, both of them trying to fight off tears. Both of them were failing. Weiss hefted Ruby's limp, unconscious body over her shoulder and the three of them escaped to the north.

Yang felt her aura flaring up. She had been staring at the ground with her back to her friends, facing south. A sound made her look up; she was surrounded by Grimm, just as Blake had said. "I'm going to make you all burn for your crimes," she said menacingly. "Because today you're going to make my sister cry. Nobody, and I mean nobody, makes my sister cry." Through the tears, Yang's eyes shifted color to Red. The Grimm charged her, and she let her aura explode, enveloping everything in flames as she began to fight back. With every Grimm she had slain, she felt herself growing happier and happier. Every dead Grimm gave her sister more and more of a chance to escape, and she also avenged Cardin piece by piece.

Several dozen more Grimm showed up, taking the place of the ones she'd killed, but she never let up. Every wound she received was a reminder that her sister would hurt. Every drop of blood she lost was a copy of what would survive through Ruby. Every swing of her arm was a dead Grimm at her feet. Every dead Grimm was a minute added to Ruby's escape time. Bloody, weak, and damaged, Yang saw that she was still surrounded. She charged up her aura once more, readying for the final stand. She smiled defiantly at her foes. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!" she said dryly. "And this woman knows how to burn like Hell!"

* * *

Roman's bullhead was ascending. Three of the four members of team RWBY were on board and they told him to take off. Almost immediately, the forest was engulfed in flames. _Yang_, he thought. "How's Red? Is she hurt?" he asked, trying to distract himself from the older girl's apparently struggle.

"She's just out cold," Weiss stated. "Yang knocked her out so that we would escape with her." Weiss's eyes were puffy and red, and so were Blake's. Roman knew what that had to mean; Yang had said her final goodbyes.

"Nng," Ruby groaned as she woke up. She coughed and spit a few drops of blood; Yang really hit her hard to knock her out. "What happened?" she asked groggily. She looked around the Bullhead. "Yang? Where's Yang?" A large exposion erupted below, engulfign even more of the forest in flames. Ruby recognized those flames; they were the flames of her sister. "Yang? Yang!" She tried to crawl out of the Bullhead. "My sister! My sisters in that!"

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled. "It's too late for her! She's gone!"

"No! I have to save her! I have to save her! I promised her that we'd all make it! I promised!" Her tears streamed anew as she screamed. "No! No! My sister! She's burning! She's burning!" Weiss almost tackled Ruby, but it wasn't to stop her. Weiss embraced Ruby in a tight hug; a hug that she'd never given anyone before. She hushed and tried to sooth the screaming girl.

Blake looked out of the door of the aircraft and watched the flames grow smaller in the distance as Roman flew them back to Beacon. "Goodbye, my partner," she whispered as a final parting.

And somewhere in those flames, Yang smiled as she burned with the rest of the Grimm she fought. Long dead at this point, she knew that her sister was safe and sound. Her task in this world was over. And, she was right. She was the only one who truly knew what it meant to burn, for she was flame, and the flame was her. Now, her flame was extinguished, but the flame of another was lit.

It was faint, and even she didn't realize it was there, but the flame of revenge was lit on this day. It only needed time to grow into a blaze.

* * *

_What It Is To Burn-Finch_

**Author's Note  
**

Here it is: the dreaded chapter. I'd wager alot of you hate me now. Well, I'll tell you this: I'm depressed now. I had an incident where I accidentally foreshadowed Yang's death in the previous chapter. Which I did alot anyway (sort of), but this one was direct and unintentional. It was so...I dunno...aweful? It wasn't bad per se, but as soon as I wrote the words I actually had to stop writing for about thirty minutes. I felt physically ill, like I was going to throw up. That's how much the decision to kill her off has affected me. As I've said before; I don't make these choices lightly. I just hope I handled it well. That being said, I've actually had this planned for a very, very long time. There are references to the song used here in other chapters. They're probably obvious at this point, but there is one in an author's note that I'm particularly proud of. See, I wanted it to be sort of surprise, but sort of not surprise. I guess I wanted people to ease into it a little bit...maybe because I wasn't as ready myself as I wanted to be. Who knows.

From here, the timeline will stay similar to the original, while also being different. The events that Ruby foresaw will happen, but they won't happen when she thinks they will (much like Cerberus), and the outcomes will change at times, while some outcomes may stay the same. Like the Doctor said: Fixed point in time.

I've been begging since the beginning not to be lynched, and here is why. Please, don't lynch me! At the risk of being hated on, I will sincerely ask you to please review this chapter: It's been a long time in the making, and I want to know how I handled it. I've been looking forward to writing it, and I've also been the most worried about it.

Till next time. (I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.)


	10. Chapter 9: The Ghost of You

Chapter 9: Ghost of You

The sound of glass shattering echoed from Ozpin's office. He was now regretting his decision to let team RWBY go alone into the Emerald Forest. _Team VLVT, or JNPR, or LNER could have gone with them! They could have had back up!_ he thought angrily. The floor was covered in the remains of the coffee mug that he had violently thrown at the wall. He thought that there would be minimal danger since it seemed that most of the Grimm had relocated to the City of Vale. Instead, he made the same mistake he'd made with Cardin. He let _him_ die too. Everyone said that Cardin died a hero for protecting Velvet and keeping his promise, but Ozpin knew that in the end it was all his own fault. He should have told Cardin no, and he should have denied Yang as well. And now both were gone. The only thing that angered Ozpin even more was Yang's younger sister. He was angry at himself, of course, for what the younger girl was going through.

She just lost the only member of her family that she knew was okay. Her mother had died years ago, and contact with the outside world had been severed when the Grimm began spreading. As such, the sisters hadn't had contact with their father in weeks. They hoped that he was safe somewhere, but feared that the Grimm might have got to him first. And now, there was one lest girl to feel worried about her father. And if their father _was _still alive, then Ozpin felt that it was his duty to tell the man in person what had happened to his oldest child.

He had to put a stop to this. Two of his students, though considered graduates, were now dead and he felt responsible for them. "No more," he whispered. "No more will die as long as I am headmaster of Beacon." His gaze shifted over to a map of Vale that had been sitting on his desk. He picked up a marker and wrote a single word on the Emerald Forest. _Cerberus_. He had heard team RWBY's report from Weiss, and now he had to begin planning.

The first order of business: recover any remains of Yang Xiao Long. He sent out a message to Port, Oobleck, and Glynda.

[Recover Yang. Destroy any Grimm within range.]

Ozpin looked out of his window and saw Oobleck already racing to meet up with Port and Glynda, destined to be the first to arrive before the three of them departed. He sat at his desk, and began to play the game he had learned the rules to ages ago. The game of waiting patiently.

* * *

The room was locked. No one was getting in. She wouldn't let them. No amount of soft words, bribing, or coercing of any kind was going to sway her decision for isolation. She felt as though she had lost everything that she ever loved. In one fell swoop, the woman who filled her mother's shoes all those years ago was gone. Every time she closed her eyes she could see the flames climbing to the sky, burning her dear sister. Higher and higher they climbed until she felt as though they would burn her as well as she looked on from up high, being carried to safety inside of a Bullhead. Her remaining team members yelled and cried, trying to calm her, but their words dissolved into meaningless rabble as she watched her worst fear occur before her very eyes.

And when she opened her eyes she would pray that it was all a nightmare. Yang would be sitting next to her with a smile on her face. "What's wrong, little sis? Have a bad dream?" she would ask. She'd give her a warm glass of milk, still smiling brilliantly. "Don't worry, Ruby. It's just a dream," she would say. "I'm still right here. I'll always be right here." That's what Yang would do when Ruby opened her eyes. She was sure of it.

Yet when she opened her eyes she would still be locked inside of the empty room, surrounded by the spirits of solitude and devastation. This prison of damnation was her new home, and she purposely stayed there. She could leave at any point, but refused to. The door was locked, and only she could open it. She just didn't want to. Her sister was dead. What was left for her now? Her mother? Long since dead. Her father? No one knew what became of him in the last few weeks. He was probably dead too. Ruby was alone, and thus wanted to remain alone.

How much time had passed since Yang's death? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? Ruby didn't know. As soon as Roman landed the Bullhead she ran off into the nearest building and found this abandoned room and locked herself inside. Weiss, Blake, Sun, Melanie, Militia, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Velvet...they all tried to talk to her. She refused to see any of them. Ruby loved them all, but she could never love someone like she loved Yang.

Her sister. Her dear, sweet, beautiful, loving sister. Tough as she was, she was the softest out of all of team RWBY's members. She was always the first to smile, the first to laugh, and the first to protect those around her. Those smiles would forever haunt Ruby now. All of the smiles that she had given, and all of the smiles that would go to waste would forever stick to her mind. That gentle smile.

Ruby closed her eyes as she began to cry again, and was met with flames once more. Higher and higher they burned. "I'm so sorry," Yang had said. Ruby's eyes shot open again, once more hoping it was just a nightmare. She was still locked in the empty room.

How long had it been? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? Ruby didn't know. Only now did she truly look around the room she was in. It was an old locker room. Old lockers, sinks, and shower stalls lined the wall. Ruby's thoughts were scattered. Without really considering what she was doing, she began to disrobe and entered a shower stall to bathe herself. It wasn't a shower she enjoyed. She barely washed herself, as she didn't have any soap, and she kept increasing the heat of the water. Hotter and hotter, she kept turning it up until her skin was scalding and she had to turn off the shower, but not once did she show any sign of discomfort. It hurt, but she felt it would insult Yang if she cried out.

Steam filled the room as Ruby exited the stall. Without a towel, she just stood there dripping. She noticed a mirror nearby and approached it. Her reflection was warped and disfigured by the steam that filled the room, causing the mirror to fog. Ruby absentmindedly took her hand and wiped the fog away from top to bottom and looked at her figure. Her right arm had barely healed at all. _Strange_, she thought. _It must have been days since that happened. Right? Right?_ The gash was ugly and spanned from the bottom of her shoulder socket to the midpoint of her bicep at a diagonal angle. It was sure to leave a long, deep scar.

Next, her eyes turned to look at the reflection of her stomach. It was black, blue, and yellow where Yang had punched her. The bruising was sore and fresh, and it made her hurt with every breath she took. That bruise was another reminder of her sister. Yang had punched her, something she had never done before, for the sole purpose of saving Ruby's life. "I'm so sorry," Yang had said, right before her fist made contact with Ruby's torso.

Finally, Ruby looked at her own face. She couldn't comprehend how she looked, but anyone else would see the obvious difference. Ruby was usually so alive and happy, and it was most notable in her eyes. Her eyes, which gleamed like freshly polished silver made by the finest craftsman, would speak volumes of her personality. One look and you would know that Ruby was happy and healthy. She would usually be excited and energetic and would get on some people's nerves, but that's just how she was. That's how people wanted Ruby.

The eyes that looked back at Ruby from the mirror were not her own. The once vibrant silver eyes now looked dull and lifeless. The red that filled the whites of her eyes spoke not of happiness and energy, but of tears and darkness. The lack color preached damnation rather than joy. Her flat expression told tales of surrender rather than perseverance. She felt as lifeless as her eyes looked. She closed them so as to not look at them, and she was met with flames again. "This was always going to happen," Yang had said. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Glass shattered and forced Ruby to open her eyes. She looked up and saw her reflection in pieces. Her left fist was leaning against the mirror, cracking the looking glass and cutting her knuckles. She had punched the mirror. She looked up and saw light creeping in from a small window near the ceiling; sunlight. How long had it been? Hours? Days? Weeks? She didn't know anymore. All she knew was that despair was once a feeling she heard about in stories. Now it was a real feeling for her, and she was in its clutches. She felt as though Despair wouldn't let her go for all of eternity. She placed her left hand under the sink faucet and washed the fresh blood away before finally getting dressed.

* * *

Roman Torchwick was a strong man. He was a smart man for the most part, and few could match his cunning. He was an influential man, and once had control over many organization throughout Vale. He was a resourceful man, and could turn any situation to his favor. Most commonly, he was seen as a heartless man.

Could a heartless man be so lost as he was now? It had been less than ten hours since they returned from extracting team RWBY from the Emerald Forest. He'd seen people die before, and he'd seen battles go awry before, but something about Yang burning in the forest made all of those previous incidents seem like child's play. To make matters worse, he wanted to help Ruby, but didn't know how. He'd seen it all. The "I'm sorry for your loss," the "I understand how you feel," the "It gets easier with time," and the "These things happen," just didn't seem like they would cut it. There was nothing he could say to her that would comfort her. He wanted to make things right for her, but there was no way to do that. There was absolutely nothing he could do. Nothing.

But he had to try. He felt a strange sort of love for Ruby that he'd never felt before. It wasn't romantic, but neither was it the level of love that friends give. It was almost paternal. No, maybe not paternal. But it definitely felt like a family love that he felt for her. He was sure that she didn't reciprocate that feeling, but she did consider him a friend, which was close enough. Because of that love he bore her, he had to try to help her. That's all there was to it, and he was determined to give it his best shot.

He arrived at the door to the abandoned room that Ruby had taken refuge in and knocked on the door. "It's me," he said, hoping that got her attention. "Listen, I...I know I don't have the best things to say at times like these. I was always alone, so I've never felt a loss like the one you've just experienced." He paused, breathing in. "I wish I could tell you it'll be okay. I wish I could comfort you and tell you that I understand. But I don't. All I can say is what I know: you've lost someone close to you and I'm sorry. I'm terribly and truly sorry. Maybe if I'd flown faster, or maybe if I'd joined the mission as back up, none of this would have happened." He waited for a response. He sighed when none came. "I'm probably not helping, am I?" He waited again. "Listen, Red, I just...just want to help."

He heard footsteps running towards the door. Was she going to let him in? Was she going to hug him while she cried and give him an opportunity to try to comfort her? Was she finally going to let someone help? The door opened violently, revealing a terrible looking Ruby. It appeared to Roman as though she had stripped off her clothes and put them on haphazardly, leaving herself in a frantic looking state. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her breathing was quick. One feature that seemed different from earlier, however, was her expression. She looked angry.

"What did you say?" she asked, almost harshly.

Roman gulped. "I said that I want to help," he answered.

"No!" she yelled. "What. Did. You. Call. Me?"

"I called you Red, like I always do."

"Red, was it?" she asked, sounding cruel. "You called me Red?" He nodded. "My name isn't Red!" she yelled. "It's not fucking Red, you son of a bitch!" Roman stepped back; he'd never known Ruby to swear. "That's not my name! No one but you calls me that! Weiss doesn't call me that! Blake doesn't call me that! And Yang...Yang never called me...she never called me Red!" She began to tear up. "That's not the name she knew me by, Roman. Please...just call me Ruby."

She began to collapse as she cried, but Roman caught her. He eased her into the room and shut the door to give her some semblance of privacy. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't mean to offend you. It's just...how do I put it? A cute pet name I've given you." He patted her head gently. "I know no one else calls you by that name. It's just how I am."

"But it's not my name," she cried. "Yang never..."

"Shh," Roman hushed her. "It's okay, Red. It's okay."

"No! No it's not!" she yelled. "My sister is gone! You don't know what that feels like! You can't understand!"

"You're right, I don't!" Roman yelled back, tightening his embrace on Ruby. "But if your premonition about your own fate comes true, then I will understand. I don't want that!"

Ruby's eyes went wide. "What...what are you saying?"

"Without you I'd probably have been working for Cinder alot longer. Without you I wouldn't be here, fighting for our cause! You _matter_, Red! Alot of people would be dead right now if it weren't for you."

Her eye's continued to tear up. "B-but...Yang still died. I couldn't save her!"

"Maybe," Roman started. "Maybe some things can't be changed. Maybe there are some things that are bendable and adaptable, but others that must always be as they are. Maybe Yang's death was one such point in time; a point that would always happen. Without it, who knows where the events would lead. Maybe she was _supposed_ to die to strengthen you. To give _you_ a reason to fight harder." He pulled away from the embrace and gazed into Ruby's tear filled eyes. "You're sister died, Ruby. _Use it_."

"Use it?" she asked. He nodded. _Use it,_ she thought. _Use it. Use it. Use it! USE IT!_ She felt something snap from within, as though a great weight that was being held up by a thin thread had been set free, letting gravity take proper control.

Roman witnessed with astonishment as Ruby's expression grew darker and more ferocious with each passing second. Her grief was slowly vanishing and was being replaced by anger. A rage began to burn in her eyes, the likes of which Roman had never seen before. For a split second, Roman thought he saw a hint of change in her eye color. It almost looked like the silver eyes had become as rubies, deep red with rage and blood.

Finally her rage hit a ceiling, and she let it out in a screaming fit. Rose petals seemed to explode from her, floating violently around the room and forcing Roman to take a step back. After a few seconds she seemed to calm down, but her eyes maintained a sliver of the red hue. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but Roman saw within her core a newfound resolve. He smiled, silently vowing to support whatever resolve she had found.

A knock came, and Ruby's gaze shifted to the door. "Ms. Rose?" came the voice of Glynda. "I'm...I'm sorry to disturb you, but I have something for you. Something I believe you should have." Ruby looked away from the door, still not feeling up to seeing much of anyone.

Roman smiled. "I'll get it." He opened the door slightly.

"Oh, hello Mr. Torchwick," Glynda greeted.

"Roman's fine," he answered with a smile before shifting to a grim expression. "What's up?"

Glynda nodded. "We recovered this from the Emerald Forest." She held up a cloth bundle. "If you could give this to Ms. Rose, that would be much appreciated. Also... tell her that I'm sorry for her loss."

Roman nodded and took the object before closing the door with a "thank you" and a "good day." He approached Ruby and passed the bundle to her. "She said it's from the forest."

Ruby eyed it suspiciously before taking. Slowly and gently she unraveled the bundle, revealing one of Yang's gauntlets. It was the right gauntlet, if Ruby remembered correctly. It was slightly blackened and scratched, but through all the damage it still shone a vibrant yellow. Ruby smiled faintly and sadly, reflecting on what this gauntlet had been through and what it could do. What Yang could do. She closed her eyes and was once more greeted by the climbing flames. Now, however, she wasn't afraid of them. Now she saw something in them that she didn't see before.

She saw the instrument of her vengeance.

She handed the gauntlet to Roman. "Take this to my team," she instructed. "Tell them...tell them to set up a wall mount for it. It will be our own private memorial to Yang."

Roman nodded. "What about you, Red?"

Ruby's eyes finally returned to their original silver form. "I have work to do." She grabbed Crescent Rose and walked out of the door. "I'm going to the workshops. I am not to be disturbed until I'm finished." With those parting words, she left Roman alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Sun was furious. He knew there was nothing he could have done to save Yang. He wasn't there. He couldn't have got there in time. Maybe that's what made him so furious. His lack of ability to arrive fast enough was reason enough to be angry. He was in the training room punching at punching bags, trying to calm his nerves and blow off some steam. Blake had been there earlier, but she didn't stay long. She watched Sun for a few minutes before leaving in tears; apparently, watching sun spar with the punching bag reminded her of Yang.

He had lost track of time. When he finally paused to rest and look out the window, the shattering moon was well into the sky. He dropped to the ground, exhausted. He fell even further backwards to lay flat on the ground and his eyes met the gaze of Militia. She looked at him sadly, but she still held a smile on her face. "Hello," she said, standing over him.

"Hey," Sun replied. "What are you doing?"

"I...I couldn't sleep. I tried to go to bed when Melanie did about an hour ago, but I just couldn't do it. Usually I'd stay up with Melanie, but she was so exhausted that she fell right to sleep. I didn't want to wake her."

Sun nodded, sitting up. "Wanna talk about it?" He patted the floor next to him, signaling to Militia that he wanted her to sit next to him. She nodded and joined him, but the pair sat in silence for a few moments.

"Did we ever tell you about when we first met Yang?" she finally asked.

Sun shook his head. "No, I don't think you did."

Militia smiled, her mind wandering off to the memory. "Most people would have hated her if they were in our shoes. It was when we were working in Junior's club as bouncers. She showed up one evening looking for someone. We never found out who. She tried to get the information from Junior, but he didn't know."

She turned to look at Sun. "We don't really know why, but Yang got angry with Junior. Or, at the very least, somewhat irritated. She punched him and beat up a bunch of his men. Then me and my sister joined the fight. Oh, God, could she fight. Melanie and I hadn't had a fight like that in ages. We were toe to toe! I didn't know who was going to win. We would have kept fighting, but Junior made us step out so he could fight her. He's weaker than us, so it's no surprise that Yang beat him. Only after he tore some of her hair out though."

Sun laughed. "Yeah, that's a big no-no for Yang."

Militia's smile faded. "That was the best night Melanie and I had ever experienced. We hoped that she would come back eventually and stir up more trouble. We wanted to fight her, to get to know her, and maybe even become friends with her. All of the horrible nights of working were made worth it in that fight. We wanted more."

Her eyes shifted to the floor, and she was unwilling to say what she was about to say next. Sun said it for her. "And now you'll never have that ever again," he said.

Militia shook her head. "No, we won't. We did become friends with her, but what is it worth now? She's gone, and we're still here."

Sun looked outside to the moon. "I don't like not knowing what's going to happen. Ruby's predictions have only partly become fact. Everything else is changing with what we prevent. Events are more unpredictable than ever, and anyone of us could die next."

"I don't want to die, Sun. But more than that, I don't want to lose those I care about."

"Ruby's lost her sister. You don't want to lose yours. I understand."

Militia leaned her body until her head rested on Sun's shoulder. "Melanie isn't the only one I don't want to lose," she said quietly.

Sun slowly turned to look at the top of her head, processing what she had just said. "Y...you mean...?" he tried to ask.

She turned her head to face him and nodded with tears in her eyes. She smiled before placing a hand on Sun's cheek. Leaning upwards gently, she placed her lips onto his. The kiss was brief, and they gazed into each other's eyes longingly when they parted. Sun liked the way she tasted, and decided right then that he wanted more of it. Pressing the advance, he set his lips to hers. She accepted his passion and returned it in full.

The night was long and full of passion for Sun and Militia, who found their own way to cope with the loss of a friend on this night. Under normal circumstances they would have been worried that someone might catch them, but on this night they didn't care. All that mattered was the warmth of their bodies pressed to each other in the heat of the moment, and nothing could take that away from them.

* * *

Somewhere in the city of Vale, the death howls of Grimm echoed as they were slain violently and without remorse. A heavy thud came from the street as a figure landed from a rooftop. The figure was female and surrounded by floating blades. "Mission parameters have been met: Grimm in Merchant District have been eliminated," she said. "Awaiting further orders."

A radio built into her body switched on as the voice of a woman came through. "Very good, Penny. Return to us. We'll start again in a few days."

"Understood. Returning to HQ." The blades disappeared into her back as she turned and walked in the direction of her "home". It wasn't her real home, but it's where her current master lived and that was enough for her. Her gaze shifted to the north east. In the darkness, she could make out the silhouette of Beacon academy, and she wondered silently if her friends were okay. Maybe she would find out soon. Until then, she was going to work for the new master.

After all, her master told her that they would visit Beacon soon.

* * *

_The Ghost of You- My Chemical Romance_

**Author's Note  
**

Holy shit I love writing this story. What do you think about _this_ chapter's cliffhanger? I love that cliffhanger! I know I use the hell out of cliffhangers, but I feel like they make the story more interesting. I'm really excited for the next few chapters. Especially the end of the next chapter! Nothing deadly happens, mind you, but I have an interesting concept for the next chapter's ending. I hope you guys enjoy it!

As usual, it's time for this chapter's episode of...

FUN FACT: I've been planning out most of this story from the beginning, but little bits like this chapter's ending and what it's leading to were developed later upon having someone point out a somewhat interesting plot hole from early on that I had forgotten to tie up. I'm glad I left it alone for so long. Otherwise I wouldn't have come up with this new idea. Also, FUN FACT 2.0: I've been playing A Realm Reborn: FFXIV! It's freaking amazing!

Till next time, friends! Hopefully I'm beyond the point where I worry about being lynched!


	11. Chapter 10: The Re-Coming

Chapter 10: The Re-Coming

Weiss stared sadly at the gauntlet that Roman had brought to her. It was Yang's, of course, and with it came emotion and memory that Weiss couldn't help but experience. "Where's Ruby?" Weiss had asked Roman. He told her that she was in one of the workshops and that she didn't want to be disturbed. It didn't take them long to find out which workshop Ruby had locked herself in. The sound of tools and grinding echoed through the door and into the hall. The door was, of course, locked. That didn't stop Weiss from leaving food and drink for her leader, though. She would set a tray down next to the door, knock and tell Ruby that she had brought food, and she would leave. When she would return a few hours later the tray would be empty, and the red leader would still be locked within the room hard at work.

Weiss could only speculate what she was doing inside. The way Roman told her, it seemed as though Ruby had an idea of some sorts when she saw the gauntlet and she ran off. It had been two days since then, and no one but Roman had seen Ruby since they had returned from the failed recon mission. Then again, the more Weiss thought about it, wasn't it more successful than they were giving credit for? They discovered hundreds, if not thousands, of Grimm lying in wait. And then there was the Cerberus. Whatever it was, it would doubtless cause untold amounts of destruction and devastation when it left the forest. Weiss prayed that day would never come, but she knew it would be only a matter of time.

For now, all they could really do was to prepare for the inevitable battle. Sooner or later, an all out war would be in full effect against the Grimm. Weiss prayed that the world would be strong enough to fight back long enough for the comet to disappear. If Ruby's predictions about it were accurate, it should be passing through the solar system and out of sight in another month or so. When the comet and its aura were gone, it would be their time to strike back and eliminate the Grimm. _Yes_, Weiss thought. _We must prepare. _She left the dorm and locked the door before heading to the storage areas where all of their supplies were being held. It was high time she took inventory.

* * *

Blake swung wildly at the punching bag, trying to imitate Yang's fighting style. She didn't want to learn how to truly use it, but she felt that she needed to do this for a while. Tears stinging her eyes, Blake could barely see the bag in front of her as she punched it as hard as she could, making her own knuckles bleed. The pain had finally become too much, and Blake fell backwards into a sitting position on a nearby bench. She stared at the open gashes on her knuckles, panting heavily and winching from the pain.

It was just like when Cardin died. She had found Yang doing the exact same thing. Blake had to force Yang to calm down and stop before she damaged herself beyond repair. _Yang, you're hurting yourself,_ she had said. She looked over Yang's wounds and patched them up. She smiled at the memory; it was one of the more intimate moments between herself and her reckless partner.

"Never forget," she whispered out loud. "Never forget those whom we've lost. Remember them always, carry them in our hearts, but don't let their memory distract us. Accept it. Put it away. Lock it deep inside your heart." They were the very same words she had told Yang that day. Blake nodded to herself and walked to the first aid station to grab some bandages to fix her hands up.

She took the bandages to the bathroom where she washed her hands before wrapping them. Taking a towel to dry off, she looked in the mirror and saw her own determination. A great warrior had fallen in battle, but from her ashes a new battle would be waged. Blake smiled at the thought of being on the winning side. There was going to be a return of strength and power. Most notably, Blake knew that Ruby wasn't locked in the workshop's sulking; she was up to something, and this gave Blake hope.

* * *

Ren was finally done. He had been working tirelessly to rebuilt the missing half of Storm Flower. He didn't have time to paint it green like the original, so one of his guns was still a mixture of metallic grays and silvers, but he didn't mind. The blade on the replacement wasn't as long, unfortunately, but he _was_ in a hurry when we was building it. Hopefully, the modification that gave it a faster fire rate would make up for the lack of blade length. He smiled at his completed work before turning in his chair to show his team mates his final result. "It's done. I am whole again," he said.

He did most of the work in the workshops, but for the final stretch he had relocated all of the necessary supplies and tools to the dorm of team JNPR. Jaune and Nora nodded their approval, and Pyrrha smiled at him. "Just don't get into a situation where you need to replace them again. Last time we could have lost more than just a gun, you know," Jaune said.

"Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Don't be," Nora said sadly. "You were protecting me. If our roles were switched, I'd have done the same." She grew silent for a moment. "Jaune, Pyrrha, can me and Ren be alone for a bit?" The two nodded and left the room.

Ren stared at her. He had an idea about what this was about, but he didn't want to speak out of turn. He waited patiently for Nora to make the opening move. "Ren...I was so scared when we were on that mission. I slipped up and lost focus for a moment, and didn't realize just how bad it was until you saved me. I could have died. You could have died. Both of us could have been killed that day."

"They've kept out recons to a minimum for the last few days," Ren commented. "To give us plenty of time to recover properly, and for me to replace Storm Flower's left twin." His gaze shifted to the table where he had lain both guns. The right one was somewhat scratched and scuffed, revealing some silver and gray beneath the layers of green. "But you were more important than my weapon, Nora."

"I know...I've been thinking about that. It's not even been a full week since then, but I've come to understand something in those few days that I should have understood a long time ago." She turned her eyes to meet Ren's. "I care more for you than I thought. You're more than just a friend to me, and I don't want to lose you either."

Ren stood and hugged Nora. He smiled, though she couldn't see it, and said, "I know."

Nora was in tears. "W-with Yang dying, and more Grimm coming...I...I didn't want to regret not telling you that I love you. I love you, Ren. I really, truly love you."

"I know," he said again. "You never had to say it. But I'm glad that you did."

Outside in the hall stood Jaune and Pyrrha, both listening to their team mates. In these days of darkness, they were happy that some light was shed on this night.

* * *

Weiss's face was scrunched in confusion. "This can't be right," she said out loud, reading from her clipboard. "Luna, come here for a moment."

The girl in question came. "What is it, Weiss?"

"Do these numbers match up to you?" She handed Luna the clipboard.

The blue clad girl stared at the pages and looked around to the crates that the paper mentioned. Back to the paper, her own face scrunched up. "Well that can't be right. How did we use this much dust?"

Weiss took the clipboard back and re-read it herself. "I don't know, but there's no mistaking it. We're going to have a shortage of dust in the coming days if something isn't done soon."

"You think it's the Bullheads? They aren't very fuel efficient, you know."

"That, and possibly our fellow huntsmen and huntresses are stocking up on ammunition and not reporting to us. That's not really that big of a deal, so I'm not going to press the matter, but we _do_ need to find a solution to this problem. If we run out of dust, then we lose our ability to fight for the long haul. No ammo. No transport. No magic."

"That's not good," Luna chimed. "What can we do?"

Weiss nodded her head. "I don't know for sure. But I do have some ideas. I'll have to mull them over and consult with Ozpin on the matter." She looked up at the night sky. "It's getting late. You should get some rest. I've got what I needed."

Luna flashed Weiss a smile. "Don't work too hard. Get some rest. We don't need you collapsing on the job, after all." She began to walk away with a wave.

Weiss smiled as Luna left. Before she approached her, Weiss had no idea who Luna was. They had become fast friends, no doubt in part to Ruby inadvertently teaching Weiss how to be more social. Luna had begun assisting Weiss in all of their supply needs, even going as far as coming tonight on short notice to help Weiss take inventory. Weiss liked being in charge of the supplies as she was, though it was more self established rather than given to her.

Her appreciation of the job, however, was less than stellar in the face of this new issue. Their supply of dust was starting to run low, and Weiss needed to fix that problem. What could she do, though, to solve the issue?

If it were possible she'd contact her father and put in a requisition for a large quantity of dust, but there's no way that she could get a hold of him.

Was there? She knew then what she had to do. _Time to get in touch with my family_, she thought.

* * *

The next morning, Weiss and Blake were messaged on their scrolls to come to the workshops and wait outside. They tried to open the door, but it was still locked. The two girls decided it was best to obey the message and just wait it out; clearly Ruby wanted to talk to them or something. From within they could still hear the sound of machines and tools. Blake's faunus ears picked up the sound of a buffing wheel, or some similar instrument. "She must be exhausted," Blake commented. "From what I've been able to hear the last few days, she's barely slept. The longest time period that it was quiet in there was about four hours yesterday after noon."

"At least she's eating," Weiss added. "That, or we have a terrible rodent infestation that eats her food for her when I'm not looking." She stared intently at the door. "I really am worried about her, Blake. Just _what_ is she working on in there?"

Blake sighed. "With any luck, she's preparing for revenge against the Grimm." She glanced at Weiss. "Realistically, that's not all that great either. Without at least four teams, we won't be able to take out Cerberus."

"I'd imagine even then it'd be difficult." Her attention was drawn away by the sound of footsteps. Weiss turned to see Roman strolling down the hallway with a somber look on his face. "Hello, Roman," she greeted.

"Hey, Princess," he returned. "I guess Red told you two to come as well?" The two girls nodded. "Any idea what this is?" He waved his hand in the door's general direction.

"No idea at all," Weiss replied.

Roman sighed before lighting up a cigar, ignoring a nearby No-Smoking sign. _This is the beginning of the end of the world. Second hand smoke is the least of their worries_, he thought. "I really wish we could help her. She's probably been in there sulking."

"While that's possible," Blake stated. "It's not likely. She's been busy. She _is_ up to something."

"I wonder what it is."

The door clicked; the lock was undone, but it didn't open. Weiss, Blake, and Roman looked at each other before shrugging and stepping through the door. Inside the workshop was the aftermath of a category five hurricane. Scrap metal, spare parts, a few cartridges of dust, and broken tools littered the room. At the far end, clearly putting some final touches on something, was Ruby looking very messy and unkempt. Her hair looked wild, poking this way and that, and her cloak had stains and tears that were previously not there. Her pale skin was blacked by oil and dirt in large splotches, and she looked ready to pass out from exhaustion. Yet in her hands she held something as delicately as though it were a small child. She turned and smiled a weak smile to her team and friends. "It's done," she said after several minutes of silence. "It's finally done!"

The three others looked at each other. "What's done, Red?" Roman asked.

Her weak smile twisted menacingly, turning into a dark smile that none had ever seen Ruby wear before. "The instrument of the Grimm's extinction."

Weiss was caught off guard. "What do you mean, Ruby?"

Ruby held up the object; it looked just like Crescent Rose, only there appeared to be some thicker parts in places, and Weiss thought she could see a color discrepancy in the inner folds, but couldn't tell for sure in its current, folded state. "I would like to introduce you to Ember Rose," Ruby announced. In a single swift motion, she swung the block of metal violently, letting the deployment mechanism work its magic as the weapon unfolded quickly. The shape remained much the same in its newer, upgraded form, however the trigger assembly and several places on the blade were thicker. One such thicker place above the blade was painted yellow instead of red, and the curved blade itself featured a serrated edge instead of a single smooth, razor sharp edge.

"Ruby," Blake started. "What _is_ that?"

Ruby's smile grew wider as she twisted her hand on the handle. A loud popping sound reverberated through the room, and the silver blade began to change to a warm orange color, slowly fading into a bright red; the blade was heating up. "My sister burned to keep us safe. It's only fitting that the Grimm burn as well while I tear them limb from limb." Ruby almost spat in disgust at the mention of the Grimm. "They have a special place in Hell waiting for them, and I'm going to be the one to send them there. Starting with Cerberus."

Ember Rose's color slowly faded until it returned to its silver color, leaving Weiss and Blake both impressed and dumbfounded. Blake finally smiled. "Yeah, Ruby. We're going to kill them all. We'll make them pay for taking our Yang."

Weiss nodded in agreement, and Roman simply smiled. Ruby glanced over at Roman. "Do you still have that cigar I never finished?" she asked.

"U-uh, yeah. Why?" he asked, caught off guard.

"I'm going to finish it. It will be my moment of remembering Yang before I move towards this re-coming." Roman nodded and reached into his pocket for the cigar. Producing it, he gave it to Ruby and lit it for her. She inhaled and exhaled the smoke. She looked at Weiss and Blake. "We need to meet with Ozpin. It's time we planned out counter attack. Our _real_ counter attack."

* * *

Penny stood on top of the hill just outside of Beacon. The new master said that the time was perfect to visit Beacon. It'd be a surprise, and alot of people would die most likely, but Penny was happy that she'd get to see her friends again. She was ready to see Ruby's smile, to hear Weiss get angry, to see Blake get flustered and play it off like nothing happened, and she looked forward to hearing Yang crack jokes.

She was especially excited to finally see Ruby again. She was certain that her friends were all safe and sound. Sure, they were warriors, but they were also students; there's no way that Beacon would allow any harm to come to their students, right? That was Penny's thought process.

Penny looked to the sky; it was noon. She wasn't allowed to enter Beacon until nightfall, but Penny was a patient person. So, she stood and waited.

And while Penny waited for the green light to enter Beacon, Cerberus watched from the shadows of the Emerald Forest. In his eyes was an anticipation so strong that it made his mouths water with delight. _Soon_, he thought. _So very soon._

* * *

_Song: The Re-coming - Guilty Gear 2: Overture_

**Author's Note  
**

I'm so, _so_ sorry for taking so long on such a short chapter. You know how it is when you're employed. You get home, you're tired, you don't do a whole lot. And I've been going to alot of Magic: The Gathering tournaments lately. Trying to win some money. No luck yet. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, I didn't really like writing this chapter, but it is necessary as a setup for the coming chapters. Hopefully I won't take as long on the next one, but I'm not going to make any promises. Also, I've got a new story idea for my original stories, which as I've said many times before, they take precedence. Gotta try to make some money somehow, you know? Gotta pay them bills!

Fun fact: I hate Guilty Gear 2. That is the worst excuse of a Guilty Gear game ever. I'm so happy that Guilty Gear Xrd is going back to what GG is supposed to be. However, Guilty Gear 2 had a great story, and the music was amazing (as it should be for a Guilty Gear game). The game play was just shit though. There is no redeeming that. The Re-Coming is pretty much the theme song for the game, and its really bad ass. Look into it.

Till next time, when shit might go down!


	12. Chapter 11: The Mark Has Been Made

Chapter 11: The Mark Has Been Made

Weiss, Blake, and Roman had forced Ruby to get some rest before they approached Ozpin with any sort of discussion, which she begrudgingly accepted. She tried to argue that she wasn't too tired, that she was able to speak with Ozpin. However, several night's of sleep deprivation, having only slept three to four hours at a time, were finally catching up to her. When she finally laid her head down on her pillow, she realized just how tired she really was. Her eyes felt heavy, and she fell asleep instantly. This caused Weiss to breathe a sigh of relief as she closed the dorm room door behind her as she exited with Blake.

Roman was waiting in the hall for the two girls, his arms crossed as he 'patiently' waited to see what they were going to do now. "Well?" he asked.

"I think we can still broach the subject to Ozpin without Ruby. She won't like it when she wakes up, but right now she needs her rest," Weiss stated. "We'll tell him that Ruby will soon be back in fighting condition, and that team RWBY is ready to begin continued operations. I also need to discuss some things with him."

"What sort of things?" Blake asked.

Weiss was about to answer, but she closed her mouth. "I don't want anyone to worry needlessly yet. It's just something I need to bring up with the professor, that's all. It's important enough to require his attention, but not enough for just everyone to know. Not yet, anyway."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Sounds dodgy," she commented.

"It isn't," Weiss assured. _Not yet, anyway_, she repeated mentally. The issue of an inevitable dust shortage had weighed on her mind since last night, but she didn't want to start a panic. No, she would keep it discreet for a time.

Roman nodded. "I'm gonna get the rest of team SMMR and make sure that we're Bullhead ready. It's been a few days since we've last flown, so we need to do proper maintenance and stay alert. Just in case." He gestured with his hand a parting before turning on his heel and strolling towards the exit. Weiss wasn't entirely sure if she was right, but she felt that Roman had relaxed since they saw Ruby this morning. She didn't really notice him on edge or anything, but now that Ruby was resting peacefully he seemed more himself. _I suppose Ruby really has infected him. He truly has become her friend._

Blake nudged Weiss to regain her attention. "So...we're off to Ozpin's?"

Weiss nodded. "To Ozpin's."

* * *

Melanie sat by herself. Odd for one of the Malachite twins, but she had purposely sent her younger sibling away on an errand. It was a pointless errand that would take Militia a while to work on before she figured out it was a falsehood, and Melanie felt bad about making her sister waste her time. Still, she felt it was justified. She needed to talk to a certain monkey faunus about her little sister, and said little sister couldn't be present for such an exchange.

Melanie liked to think that she was a smart young woman. Not the most intelligent, of course, but neither was she a complete moron. She believed that she enough logic and reasoning to pick out enough details to understand situations at their most basic form. Having watched Sun and Militia interact for the last week, she was confident that there was something going on between them. Militia hadn't said anything to her, nor had Sun said anything, but Melanie wasn't a fool. The protective look that Sun gave the younger Malachite, the way Militia would gaze at him from a distance, the subtle touch of their hands and the subsequent awkward shuffle away from each other before they stood close by again; the signs were all there.

But Melanie wanted to hear the words from the monkey's mouth. She knew the truth, but one must never assume, even when the assumption is correct. She smiled, remembered a clever phrase that Junior had once said. "When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me." It was a play on words, but an amusing one all the same.

She had sent a message to Sun, telling him to meet her in the cafeteria. It was still morning, and if this were a normal day Melanie would probably be waking up right about now, but instead she sat and silently ate breakfast while she waited. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the faunus in question enter through a set of double doors, see her, and make his way to her table. He didn't get any food, so he must have eaten breakfast already. _Morning people_, Melanie thought sarcastically.

Sun sat down in front of her. "You rang?" She nodded, sipping her morning coffee quietly without saying a word. "Is this really important?" Another nod, and a bite of bacon. Sun stared at her incredulously. The attitude she seemed to be giving off started to make Sun uncomfortable. "Am...am I in trouble for something?"

Melanie smiled before finally speaking, having swallowed a piece of toast. "I don't know yet." Her tone was almost menacing, and Sun gulped. "What are your intentions with my sister?"

Had sun been eating he would have started choking. "I...don't know what you're talking about." He looked away, unable to make eye contact.

"Don't start lying to me now," she said, irritated. "It's a serious question, and I was a serious answer. What are your intentions with my sister."

Sun shifted his eyes towards her before looking down to the table. "I don't know yet," he answered. "I haven't really put that much thought into it."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're not saying that you don't care for my sister as much as she cares for you, are you?"

"No! No, I'm not saying that. I'm just...wait, did she tell you something?"

Melanie shook her head. "Should she have?"

"I suppose not," he commented. "I suppose what I meant is that I haven't really planned all that far ahead."

"I see." She sipped from her coffee. "Militia hasn't told me a thing, Sun, but a blind person could see that you two are into each other. I'm not an idiot."

Sun sighed, giving up any possibility of a fight. "Yeah. I do care for Militia. Deeply. I think it might have started before...before Yang." Both looked at the table sadly. "The night that Yang died, Militia came to me. She...she was scared of losing me. And she was scared of losing you. We were both scared, really. And then...well, that's not important."

Melanie caught on. "You didn't..."

Sun looked at her with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry."

"Was it that bad?" she asked.

"No! No, it wasn't! But I'm sorry that we went behind your back. I'm sorry we didn't go about this in a more proper way."

"If you truly care for my sister, then I can't accept your apology." Sun was confused. "I don't care that you two went behind my back. What I care about is my sister's happiness, Sun. I've taken care of her for most of her life. One day, I may not be here to take care of her. Sooner or later we'll have to part ways and take our own paths in life. I can do that was ease if I know that someone else will take care of her in my stead." She finished her morning coffee before giving Sun a very lovingly look. It wasn't love for him, but love for her little sister that Sun saw. "Are you the person who will take care of her for me?"

Sun nodded. "I'll do everything in my power to make her happy."

Melanie smiled. "Good. Then I have nothing to worry about. As her older sister, Sun, you have my blessing."

Both of their scrolls beeped, signaling a message. Sun checked his first. "Roman wants us to make sure everything is ready to use. We may be doing missions again in the coming days." Melanie nodded and the two left the cafeteria. They had work to do.

* * *

"Miss Rose is resting now, you said?" Ozpin asked Weiss.

"Yes, Professor. She should be combat ready by tomorrow should she be needed," Weiss replied.

"That's good to hear. Hopefully I won't need to use her for a while, but we still need to have everyone in prime condition. How is she handling Yang's death?"

"Better than she was before, but I don't think she'll ever get over it."

"That's understandable." Ozpin gazed out of his window curiously. "You mentioned the need to plan a counter attack?" Weiss nodded, even though Ozpin couldn't see it. He still knew the answer she gave, though. "I agree. I've reviewed the notes regarding Ruby's premonition. The Grimm reproduced exponentially during the time of the comet, but that growth ceases when the comet leaves. There are still far too many Grimm to properly handle at that time, but the comet leaves fairly early in the predicted year. It's been almost three months since this problem started. We have one more month before the comet disappears, assuming that part of the premonition remains untouched. We should target that time to begin our counter attack. It will be the most effective when the growth rate of Grimm returns to its previous cycle."

"What about the acceleration of events, Professor?" Weiss asked. "Ruby said that Cerberus was four months early. Yang's death was early. Why?"

"We've altered the timeline, Weiss," Ozpin answered. "So far, Cardin and Yang are our only two casualties. Heavy losses as they are, I want you to look at this." He slid a folder across his desk to Weiss.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Read it and see."

She opened the folder and began reading. "Velvet Scarlatina. Aric Rouge. Luna Fay. Sun Wukong. Pyrrha Nikos. Peter Port. Leo Brauns. Sky Lark. What is this?" Weiss asked as she read the list of names.

"That is the list of all of the people who should be dead by now if Ruby's prediction had come to pass. We've altered the timeline, and saved most of those lives." Ozpin sipped from his mug. Weiss continued to read the list, and sure enough the last name on the list was Yang's. "Compared to where the timeline should be, we've done a pretty good job keeping our numbers up. Still, the two casualties that we have are two too many."

"Agreed," Weiss said.

"Let Miss Rose continue to rest. The day after tomorrow, we'll convene and have another meeting of team leaders to discuss our future battle plans." He turned and met Weiss's gaze. "We'll beat them back, Miss Schnee."

"Yes, sir." She was about to leave, but stopped herself. "One more thing, Proffessor. I took inventory last night. We're about to have a dust shortage on our hands. If we don't do something about it, we won't be able to fight back."

"I see," Ozpin replied. "That's disturbing. Do you propose any sort of solution?"

"I have one idea, sir," she answered confidentially. "We need to contact my father." She paused. "How to do that, I have no idea."

Ozpin smiled. "We'll figure something out, I'm sure. Dismissed." Weiss left the room, and Ozpin wrote down on a notepad the key points of their conversation.

* * *

Noon came and went while Ruby slept in a state of pseudo peace, Weiss organized the remaining dust caches, team SMMR prepared the bullheads, and Ozpin began plotting for the endgame of this war for Remnant. Noon passed, and evening creeped over Beacon silently. The sun began its descent over the horizon, and no one saw it as any other day except for the final day of mourning for Yang. The morrow would bring a new dawn, and with it a new plan of action. Everyone prepared intently, for they knew that the coming days would bring great things to each and every single one of them.

All the while, Penny stood still as a pillar on the hilltop just outside of Beacon, awaiting for the signal to make her move. _I wonder how Ruby is doing?_ she thought cheerfully. Very few times in her life had she ever felt this excited. She was going to see her friends! This was something to celebrate, but the celebration would come after she and her master had moved into Beacon with the rest of them. That _was_ the plan, after all.

"Penny," came her master's voice over the radio. "Begin the operation."

Penny saluted, even though there was no one present to salute. "Yes, Ma'am! Operation is a go!" Penny leapt with her enhanced strength, giving her the feeling that she was flying.

* * *

Weiss was in the courtyard discussing dust management solutions with Luna. They were trying to figure out the best way to keep from running out when Luna happened to glance up. She was about to go back to the conversation like normal, but she saw something moving that caused her to do a double take. "What's that?" she asked.

Weiss turned and looked up. At first she didn't see anything, but then a speck started to get bigger and bigger; something was falling towards them, and it was getting closer. "I...I don't know."

A second later, a blur of something moving incredibly fast struck the ground in the center of the courtyard. Dust, rocks, dirt, grass, and bits of tree went flying in every direction, causing all in the area to scatter to safety and confusion. Weiss shielded her face from the debris and began coughing as the dust settles around her. Waving her hand to clear the air around her face, Weiss slowly opened her eyes to look at the newly formed crater. As the dirt and dust settled, a figure could be seen kneeling in the center. The figure stood up, and Weiss swore she saw floating blades surrounding the individual. Waving the blades like a giant fan, the dirt and dust was forced to ground, clearing up the scene and revealing the figure in the middle.

Weiss was more confused now than she was a moment ago. "P-Penny? Is that you?"

Penny's gaze shifted around the courtyard, seemingly identifying anyone in the vicinity, before falling on Weiss. "Oh, hello Wiess! You're hair looks lovely today!" She waved energetically as she greeted the heiress. Weiss was dumbstruck beyond words, incapable of replying. "Where are the others? Ruby? Blake? Yang?"

Weiss's chest ached at the mention of Yang. "Penny...Yang...Yang is..."

"It doesn't matter," Penny interrupted. "I'll talk to you guys later. I have work to do!" She shifted her gaze to a nearby huntsmen. "I have to make room for my master!" Swinging her blades, she caught the huntsmen off guard before he could raise his aura. His head rolled to the ground a moment later, and his body followed shortly.

"Penny!" Weiss exclaimed, horrified.

Luna grabbed Weiss shoulder; her hands were shaking. "You..._bitch_!" she exclaimed. "You bitch! You killed Aric!" Luna drew her weapon; Blue Moon. The revolver pistol's short dagger like blade extended swiftly, forming a complete gunsword, and the blue clad girl leapt at Penny to engage her in combat.

"Aric?" Weiss asked herself, still in a state of shock. _Aric Rouge!_ she remembered from the paper that Ozpin showed her earlier. He was supposed to have died earlier in the year, but he lived just long enough to die today. Weiss came out of her moment to see Luna fighting Penny toe to toe. Weiss sobered up and drew Myrtenaster and joined the fray, along with many of the other huntsmen present.

* * *

"Ozpin!" Glynda exlaimed. "We're under attack! A young girl landed in the courtyard and started attacking the students!"

Ozpin didn't need to be told; he was watching the events unfold from his office. He angrily punched the wall next to window. "They're not our students anymore, Glynda. They're our soldiers." He set down his mug and grabbed his cane. "Even so, I will not stand by idle and watch them be butchered." Swinging at the window, he shattered the glass and leapt out with Glynda trailing close behind.

The pair landed in the courtyard and were horrified to see that several others had died fighting this girl, but she seemed to be unharmed. Ozpin's face twisted in anger as he was about to join the battle, but an explosion erupted from the gate to the school grounds distracted him. "What!?" he exclaimed. He turned to see the gate blown away, and several White Fang soldiers began to march their way onto the campus. "The girl's a diversion! This isn't a random attack! We're under siege!"

He used his scroll to activate the emergency alarm system, and he sent a mass message to all of the huntsmen and huntresses to convene in front of the school for battle. The alarm wailed loudly, and the fight against the younger girl raged behind him as he stood there, waiting to see what would happen next.

Out of the smoke at the gates strolled a female figure; one that he thought he would never see again. His eyes narrowed. _You...are you really this daft!_

She walked in and gave an order to the soldier, who immediately began to attack and fight other huntsmen and huntresses, as well as setting fire to nearby buildings and gardens. She smiled, pleased that her plan was going as it should, before her gaze met Ozpin's. Her smile widened at the sight of him. "Hello, Ozpin. It's been a while."

Ozpin stood quietly for a time. "Hello, Cinder," he finally said.

* * *

Ruby woke to the sound of an alarm. Not an alarm to rouse her from sleep, but an alarm that was only used for emergencies; this was the first time she'd ever heard this particular alarm. She jumped from her bed and looked out the window to find smoke and flames, as well as the sound of battle. She shouldn't be surprised by it; everything else was starting to accelerate, so why should _The Battle for Beacon_ be any different? She grabbed Ember Rose and left the dorm. The only thought in her mind was a single, determined phrase. _I'm going to kill Cinder and stop this ridiculous battle._

One thing she didn't account for, however, was another alteration to the timeline. She didn't know that Penny was the one that started the battle this time around. Nor did she know that Cerberus was watching from the sidelines, pleased at the self induced destruction that was being caused. All he had to do now was wait for the humans and the animals to weaken themselves, and he would go in for the kill. He licked his lips, feeling the growing hunger in his belly as he thought of those delicious bodies that he would soon be feasting upon.

* * *

_Song: The Mark Has Been Made-Nine Inch Nails_

**Author's Note**

The Battle for Beacon, anyone? Shit's going down! I really like what I've done with Penny, in all honesty. Cinder's finally made a return, and Cerberus is doing his three headed dog thing. Please review, because I want to know what you guys think about it so far before the next chapter when the battle continues.

Fun Fact: Like Yang's death, I've been waiting to write this for a long time!

Till next time!


End file.
